Evaluation of the disease in subjects belonging to different culture Analysis of a research in spinal cord-injured post-traumatic patients

The scope of this study is to evaluate how much the belonging culture can influence the psychic and emotional background in subjects affected by total post-traumatic spinal cord injury. The study was carried out in Structure Complex Spinal Unit (S.C. USU) of Santa Corona Hospital in Pietra Ligure (SV), Italy, using a sample consisting of 10 Italian people and 10 non European citizens. The whole sample has had a complete diagnosis of post-traumatic spinal cord lesion (ASIA impairment scale A) and a psychiatric diagnosis in conformity with the standards of DSM-IV TR. All the people have been treated with a pharmacological and psycological treatment. The sample has been evaluated using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Clinical Global Impressions (CGI), SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36) and Brief Cope, both at the visit of recruitment and after 4 months from the introduction in the study. The comparison among the data obtained by these scales points out a significant reduction of the state of anxiety and depression in the two examined groups, particularly, in that belonging to Italian culture, suggesting that this group could have had a more effective chance to adapt to and face the "new" condition of life. The study, then, emphasizes how much the belonging culture can influence both the adaptability to the new state and the expressivity of the symptoms.