Iranian Journal of War and Public Health

Aims: Complications due to spinal injuries in veterans affect the different dimensions of their family’s life. The present study was done to investigate the correlation between general health and quality of life in caregivers of veterans suffering from spinal cord injury.

Materials & Methods: This correlational study was conducted among 90 caregivers of veterans suffering from spinal cord injury referring to Boostan hospital in Ahvaz who were selected through convenient sampling. Data was collected by general health and quality of life questionnaires (36 questions) and were analyzed using spearman's correlation and chi square.

Findings: There was no significant difference between quality of life and general health of caregivers with age, sex, education, marital condition, economic level, relation with person on care and paralysis type (p>0.05). The mean score of general health of caregivers 57.5±5.6 and the mean score of quality of life was obtained 55.1±22.7. The significant correlation was observed between general health and quality of life score of caregivers (p=0.01).

Conclusion: The most dysfunction in general health of caregivers is in the domains of anxiety, depression, social functioning and physical symptoms respectively. The most dysfunction in quality of life of caregivers is in the domains of general health perception, emotional role functioning and mental health respectively. There is a correlation between general health and quality of life of caregivers and there is a correlation between some domains of general health with quality of life in caregivers of veterans suffering from spinal cord.

Keywords: General Health; Quality of Life; Caregiver; Veterans; Spinal Injury