Psychological well-being after spinal cord injury: perception of loss and meaning making

Objective: This study examined the insuence of medical injury severity, perceived loss of physicalfunctioning (conceptualized as physical resource loss), and global meaning making on psychologicalwell-being among 79 veterans living with a spinal cord injury. Measures: Structured interviews werecompleted to assess perceived loss of physical abilities using the Conservation of ResourcesNEvaluationand SF-36 Health Survey, global meaning making (Purpose in Life scale), and psychological well-being(Sense of Well-Being Inventory). Medical injury severity was calculated from medical records. Results:Medical injury severity was not related to psychological well-being, whereas perceived loss of physicalfunctioning was inversely associated. Global meaning making was signiÞcantly related to and accountedfor a large portion of the variance in psychological well-being. Results suggest that global meaningmaking partially mediates perceived loss of physical resources and psychological well-being. Conclu-sion: The perceived loss of physical abilities and the generation of meaning and purpose in life areimportant variables that relate to positive adaptation following spinal cord injury. Treatment implicationsrelated to factors that increase quality of life following spinal cord injury are discussed.Keywords: psychological well-being, meaning making, spinal cord injury, conservation of resources,veterans