Resilience and Function in Adults With Physical Disabilities: An Observational Study

Abstract Objectives To determine if resilience is uniquely associated with functional outcomes (satisfaction with social roles, physical functioning, and quality of life) in individuals with physical disabilities, after controlling for measures of psychological health (depression and anxiety) and symptom severity (pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance); and to examine the potential moderating effect of sex, age, and diagnosis on the hypothesized associations between resilience and function. Design Cross-sectional survey study. Setting Surveys were mailed (81% response rate) to a community sample of 1949 individuals with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, postpoliomyelitis syndrome, or spinal cord injury. Participants were recruited through the Internet or print advertisement (28%), a registry of previous research participants who indicated interest in future studies (21%), a departmental registry of individuals interested in research (19%), disability-specific registries (18%), word of mouth (10%), or other sources (3%). Participants Convenience sample of community-dwelling adults aging with physical disabilities (N=1574), with a mean Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (10 items) score of 29. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System measures of Satisfaction with Social Roles and Activities and Physical Functioning, the World Health Organization's brief Older People's Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (10 items). Results After controlling for age, age squared, sex, diagnosis, psychological health, and symptom severity, resilience was significantly and positively associated with satisfaction with social roles (β=.17, P