Impact of Spirituality on Occupational Success of Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

ABSTRACT

SIR ALLEN D. PEGUES IMPACT OF SPIRITUALITY ON OCCUPATIONAL SUCCESS OF INDIVIDUALS WITH SPINAL CORD INJURY Under the direction of SUNEETHA MANYAM, PhD

The literature findings indicate that individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) are less likely to obtain employment than people without disabilities. Challenges such as resiliency, spirituality, level of education, and the severity of the injury contribute to their lack of employment. Individuals with SCI should have the same opportunity to achieve occupational success as persons without disabilities. This study was designed to explore the following question: What impact does spirituality have on the occupational success of individuals with SCI? The researcher used the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale to measure each participant’s level of resiliency and spirituality. Convenience sampling was used to collect data from 117 SCI individuals who responded to a Qualtrics survey. The data were analyzed using the ANOVA procedure to gain an understanding of how the independent variables impacted the occupational success of individuals with SCI. The results revealed that resiliency and level of education had a statistically significant impact on occupational success of individuals with SCI. Individuals with SCI with higher spirituality scores did not have as much occupational success as those with lower spirituality scores. Individuals with more education had more occupational success than individuals with SCI with less education. The severity of the injury did not have a statistically significant impact on occupational success of individuals with SCI.