Description:
Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a medically complicated and lifedisrupting condition. It is a traumatic event which creates many dysfunctions in
an individual‟s life. Thus, an individual‟s engagement and participation in
activities can become limited after injury and may need extra support for
participating in activities due to their disability that they may not get properly.
So they become ignored as being persons with SCI.
Objectives of the study: The objectives were identify the patient‟s difficulties of
their present social situation in the community, to find out the status of social
participation before and after SCI, to find out the attitude of community people
towards SCI and to find out the ways to improve the quality of participation in
the community.
Methodology: The study was a phenomenological qualitative research design
to collect in-depth information from participants. Purposive sampling was used
and ten (10) participants who met the inclusion criteria were selected. A semistructured question, face to face interview was conducted to collect the data.
Result and Discussion: From the finding of the research, it was seen that
persons with SCI seem to face various problems such as accessibility problem,
negative outlook, lack of support, family separation, avoidance behavior and
poor urban planning for the SCI in the society that causes participants
sometimes withdraw from social involvement. These factors causing mental
distress leads to failure achieve participation in activities and lead an
independent life.
Conclusion: Proper rehabilitation service (including awareness, education, and
encouragement), family member, and community people supports can facilitate
them to cope and overcome these obstacles as much as possible. It also makes
sure the successful community participation that ensures individuals are able to
generalize their learning across a range of different environments.
Keyword: Spinal Cord Injury, Paraplegia, Social experience, Bangladesh.