Higher quality of life in people with spinal cord injury (SCI) is heavily linked with reintegration in the physical and psychosocial environment. Still, this is a far more demanding and complex issue, because for people with SCI it requires that they become active again and reacquire their age, gender and culture related roles and social status back. It also involves the issue of independence and productive behaviour in many kinds of interpersonal relations with family, friends and other people. Additionally, it has been proven that in terms of quality of life, recreation and active life style significantly help after SCI, as active individuals contrary to those inactive report higher quality of life.
The Master thesis has determined an important connection between staying active and recreation after SCI and the subjective assessment or opinion of the quality of life of paraplegics. 62 responded the questionnaire, of whom 31 active and 31 inactive paraplegics. We performed the analysis in both groups and analysed the general well-being and physical condition, subjective assessment of their physical activities and recreation participation, subjective opinion on their level of motivation and obstacles for recreation, as well as their subjective opinion of satisfaction in different areas of quality of life.
Data comparison has shown that subjective well-being in all areas of quality of life is higher for those, who still pursue some sort of recreational activities after SCI. From all areas the two groups statistically differ the most in the area of physical well-being, and the least in the area of social inclusion. Regardless of statistical importance, the subjective satisfaction values in both groups are higher in areas of interpersonal relations, decision-making, personal development and emotional well-being, whereas lower in areas of physical well-being, rights, social inclusion and material well-being.
Data analysis has shown that active individuals with paraplegia compared to inactive individuals are more frequently motivated by physical condition, pleasure, weight control and body posture, health, positive experiences in sports and recreation, being a role model to other people with SCI, encouragement from others with SCI, accessibility to sport facilities, competitiveness and qualified sports trainers. Both groups are similarly motivated by better and richer social relations, higher self-esteem, free workout programmes and good transport possibilities. The main obstacles for recreation participation for active individuals are environmental problems and for those inactive both intrapersonal and environmental obstacles.
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