ATTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONSET OF SPINAL-CORD INJURY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL OUTCOMES IN THE FIRST YEAR POSTINJURY

Investigations of attribution for responsibility for onset of spinal c ord injury (SCI) have resulted in inconsistent findings when relating such attributions to psychosocial outcomes. Very few studies have inve stigated this phenomenon in a prospective, longitudinal fashion. We pr ospectively followed 80 persons with recent onset traumatic SCI and ex amined patient and staff attributions for responsibility for onset of SCI, the stability of those measures over time, and their relationship to measures of life satisfaction and family adjustment. Twenty-five p ercent of the sample changed self-attributions of responsibility over time. Self-attribution of responsibility was associated with lower lif e satisfaction during rehabilitation, but this difference dissipated b y one year post injury. Self-attribution of responsibility was not pre dictive of patient-assessed family adjustment. Staff assessment of pat ient responsibility for onset of injury was not predictive of outcomes even when congruence/incongruence between patient and staff attributi ons was examined. Implications for further investigation are discussed .