Frequency of social anxiety among spinal cord injury patients of paraplegic center peshawar, a cross sectional study

Abstract

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating event that results in disability, limitations in participating in various activities, and mental health problems which greatly affect the quality of life of the injured person. Chronic SCI patients suffer from many secondary complications which becomes a challenge for the patient due to which many types of mental health problems arise such as depression and anxiety. This also affects the participation in social activity. The study aimed to find out the frequency of social anxiety and its association with SCI patients at Paraplegic Centre Peshawar.

Method:This was a cross-sectional study in which a non-probability sampling technique was used. Data was collected from SCI patients (n=300) from Paraplegic Centre Peshawar in which 153 (51%) were males and 147 (49%) were females. SAQ A30 questionnaire was used to measured Social anxiety. The study duration for this study was 6 months.

Results:  The mean found in the SAQ-A30 scores made it possible to identify the highest mean in the dimension 3(interaction with opposite sex) which is (18.21±4.03), followed by dimension 2(speaking in public/with authority), dimension 4(criticism and embarrassment), dimension 1(interaction with stranger) lastly dimension 5 (expression of annoyance) with values of (14.19±4.13), (13.78±3.83), (13.58±3.72), (13.32±3.92) respectively. Gender, level of spinal cord injury and ASIA scale were associated with spinal cord injury.

Conclusion:Our study found out that social anxiety in SCI patients were mild to moderate. Gender, level of spinal cord injury and ASIA scale were associated with social anxiety. Male reported higher level of social anxiety then female. Psychological counselling should be encouraged among those people with SCI to reduce the effects of social anxiety as it is very important for SCI patients to be mentally and socially sound. The results of this study can be used to develop mental supportive programs improve mental health and decrease anxiety rates.