Impact of spinal cord injury on self-perceived pre- and postmorbid cognitive, emotional and physical functioning

Study Design: Cross-sectional study with repeated measurements. Objectives: To examine the patient's perspective of the impact of spinal cord injury (SCI) on physical, cognitive, emotional function, and quality of life (QOL). Setting: Australia. Methods: A sample of 63 patients with SCI, 32 of whom had recent injuries, and 31 with established injuries were administered the Ruff Neurobehavioral Inventory to examine patients’ subjective evaluation of pre- and post-injury functioning. Current happiness levels were also evaluated using the Subjective Happiness Scale. A follow up assessment was performed 6 months later to examine changes over time. Results: A significant difference was found between perception of pre- and postmorbid function on composite Cognitive ( t =5.99, df =62, P