[Empirical results of adjustment to disability by adolescents with spina bifida and traumatic paraplegia].

Between June 1991 and June 1992, a total of 39 rehabilitees aged 16 to 25 years were examined, i.e., 21 patients suffering from spina bifida and 18 patients suffering from traumatic paraplegia. Diagnostic instruments used were the Freiburg questionnaire on coping with illness (FKV 102), Goldberg et al's questionnaire for the evaluation of subjective wellbeing regarding health, and a self-constructed questionnaire for evaluating satisfaction with rehabilitation. Medical interviews on the present state of health and the present situation were held with each patient. The level of paralysis was taken as an indicator of the motor handicap present. The patients examined showed distinctly less confidence in doctors than adults do. From a subjective point of view, however, the confidence in doctors was good: among the coping strategies chosen, the compliance strategies ranked first and second, respectively, in the two groups. The coping strategy of "cognitive avoidance and dissimilation" is distinctly less common among spina bifida patients than among patients with traumatic paraplegia. They are less inclined to hope for a miracle, and take their handicap much more seriously than adolescents suffering from traumatic paraplegia. The higher the level of paraplegia, the more use is made of the coping strategy of "emotional control and social withdrawal". Regressive tendencies and depressive modes of coping were equally present in both groups. When investigating satisfaction with rehabilitation and with the own person, both groups showed very high satisfaction with the physical independence achieved and the possibilities of acting independently.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)