This study aimed to evaluate the preliminary psychometric properties of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in a community sample of adults living with a spinal cord injury (SCI). A cross-sectional design was used with 963 people living in the community with an SCI. Participants were recruited via three spinal centres in the United Kingdom. They completed the HADS and the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire. Psychometric analyses were conducted for the whole sample, by gender and level of injury. The HADS demonstrated good internal consistency, with promising content validity. Two factors, approximating to anxiety and depression were extracted via factor analysis for the whole sample, by gender and level of injury. In line with existing literature, females scored significantly higher than males on the anxiety subscale. Item 7 (“I can sit at ease and feel relaxed”) was found to be a complex item, with a potentially different meaning within this population. This study presents preliminary findings, which support the psychometric integrity of the HADS within an outpatient population with SCI. Items that included potential somatic components revealed a more complex factor loading profile. Recommendations are made to further investigate this measure with amendments to such items, incorporating inpatients and independent measures of anxiety and depression to address validity directly.

The purpose of this study is to assess satisfaction with life domains in people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and investigate whether participation in sports and physical recreation is associated with life satisfaction in SCI. 1,748 randomly selec

The aims of this study were to investigate “athletic identity” in people with spinal cord injury (SCI), using the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS), to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 7-item version, and to identify reasons for and barriers to sports participation in this population. People with SCI (N = 678), even those competing as athletes, reported lower levels of athletic identity than able-bodied adults and adolescents with physical disabilities. AIMS scores varied according to gender, athlete status, and hours of sports participation per week. No relationship was found between athletic identity and depression, anxiety, or life satisfaction. Exploratory factor analysis did not support the 3-factor structure of the AIMS with this population, although internal consistency was good.

This study examined interrelationships among athletic identity, sport participation, and psychological adjustment in a sample of people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Participants (N = 1,034) completed measures of athletic identity, life satisfaction, anxiety, depression, and demographic and sport participation variables. Current amount of weekly sport participation was positively related to athletic identity when statistically controlling for age, gender, and pre-SCI amount of weekly sport participation. Being able to practice one’s favorite sport after SCI was associated with higher levels of athletic identity and better psychological adjustment. Team sport participants reported experiencing better psychological adjustment than individual sport participants did. The findings suggest that social factors are important in the link between sport participation and psychological adjustment in people with SCI.