Quality of life after spinal cord injury in Thai individuals: A mixed-methods study

Background: Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) face various health-related difficulties. Physical limitations and health-related complications in individuals with SCI can lead to activity restrictions and lowering their quality of life (QoL). It is important to assess the QoL in population with SCI to gain more valuable insights into aspects of health-related QoL (HRQoL) that could play a key role in improving care for persons with SCI. Objective: To quantitatively measure the QoL in persons with SCI in Thailand and expand the results through qualitative investigation to provide meaning, context and depth of “how” and “why” they rated, defined and addressed their QoL in that way. Methods: The philosophical assumption of this study was set based on the post-positivist views using mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. The quantitative data were collected and analyzed in 101 Thai individuals with SCI using standardized Thai version of the Short Form Health Survey version 2 (SF-36v2), followed by the qualitative investigation of semi-structured interviews in 11 volunteers who participated in the SF-36v2 phase. Priority is given to quantitative data. The data integration occurred at the qualitative data collection through the data interpretation and discussion stage. Results: With regard to quantitative data, a recent study found a statistically significant difference (p