Iranian Journal of War and Public Health

Objective(s): As a result of Iraq-Iran war, thirty-five female live through spinal cord injury (SCI) in IRAN. The purpose of this study was Insight in (1) the changes in participation in vocational and leisure activities (2) life satisfaction following spinal cord injuries and (3) the effect of their disability on marital status (SCI) after reintegration in society.

Methods: In this cross sectional study all subjects were invited for the interview and twenty-one subjects participated. Information about their level of sport-recreation activity, employment and marriage along with other demographic data were recorded using a questionnaire.

Results: They were aged between 17 to 62 year old (mean: 41.95) at the time of survey and average time passed after injury was 21.4 years (range: 7-30 years). 57.7% of subjects were single and 28.6% were married. 19% were injured at upper cervical spines and were quadriplegic. Paraplegia and paraparesia accounted for the rest (no=17). At the time of survey just 2 persons were employed. Among 21 subjects, 23.8% (no=7) participated in sport activities, recreation participation in 52/4% (no=11) was less than 2 hours/week and just4.8% (no=1) recreated more than 6 hours/week. 52.4% believed that their families are satisfied of their role and 66.7% reported good or very good family supports for their activities. 42.8% of the veterans expressed that SCI had few effects on their social relations while 33.3% believed that it deeply affects their interaction with community.

Conclusion: considering that Levels of physical activities, employment and marriage rate decreased after injury, evaluation of their quality of life and physical health state to making effective policies and promote their social and physical situation is recommended.