Psychological Adjustment Strategies among Persons with Spinal Cord Injury at the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

Introduction: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition that creates unique challenges to affected persons and family because of its inherent physical and psychosocial consequences. In spite of these consequences, little efforts have been made by African researchers to explore the psychological adjustment strategies of persons with SCI in Africa, and the majority of studies in this regard were carried out in developed countries such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychological adjustment strategies of persons with SCI in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana.

Methods: The study employed a descriptive phenomenological design. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit thirteen participants through the Neurosurgical Unit of the Tamale Teaching Hospital. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews, and analysed using content analysis.

Results: The four main psychological adjustment strategies that were identified from our data were ‘Religious Beliefs’, ‘Hope’, ‘Information Seeking’ and ‘Acceptance’.

Conclusion: Although persons with SCI employ a myriad of psychological adjustment strategies such as religious beliefs, hope, information seeking and acceptance, the most important psychological adjustment strategy, according to the findings of the present study is religious beliefs, as it plays a pivotal role in assisting persons with SCI to adjust to the ramifications of the injury.