Quality of marital life in Korean spinal cord injured patients

The purposes of this study were to assess the quality of marital life and t o investigate the most serious problem in the marital relationships of Kore an spinal cord injured patients. 30 spinal cord injured (SCI) couples (SCI husbands and their non-disabled wives) who were married prior to injury and 30 able-bodied (AB) couples participated in a questionnaire study. The qua lity of marital life was measured with three parameters: marital stability, marital adjustment, and marital satisfaction. The results were as follows: (1) The marriage of chronic SCI couples was not noticeably unstable when c ompared with that of AB couples; (2) There was no significant difference in dyadic adjustment and marital satisfaction between SCI couples and AB coup les; (3) There was no significant difference in marital stability, marital adjustment, and marital satisfaction between SCI husbands and their wives; (4) SCI couples had more cohesive marital relationships and SCI husbands ex pressed less affection to their wives than AB husbands and (5) Sex was the most serious problem in marriages of SCI couples. In conclusion: (1) the qu ality of marital life in chronic SCI couples is not highly different from t hat of AB couples; (2) There is no significant difference in the quality of marital life between chronic SCI husbands and their non-disabled wives; an d (3) It is considered necessary that rehabilitation program for SCI patien ts should include information on the altered physiology of sexual function of SCI patients and subsequent mutual adaptation to changed sexual function .