Assessment Of the Quality of Life of Orthopedic Patients and Their Coping Strategies

Abstract

Background: The current magnitude of disabilities globally points to one billion people living with disabilities, many of which are injury-related and common in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), including Ghana. Objective: To assess the quality of life of orthopedic patients and their coping strategies in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive design employing quantitative approach to gather and analyze data. A total of 403 respondents from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital's Accident and Orthopedic Departments were chosen. Using the SF-12 questionnaire, exit interviews were conducted. STATA, 15 was used to evaluate all the results. MCS and PCS combined ratings were then used to assess the average quality of life. The demographic characteristics of the respondents were described using descriptive statistics. The frequency of the relation between the dependent variable and independent variables was calculated using multiple logistic regressions. P-values was set at 0.05 at 95%Confidence interval (CI) Results: The quality of life of orthopedic patients was low because the values obtained from the component summary score of both physical (10.41) and mental component summary (15.72) were lower as compared the standard mean of 50 (ware, kosinski & keller,1996). About 57% of orthopedic patients were males, 30% had up to tertiary education, 56%, were married, 66.9% were Christians and 72% were National Health Insurance Scheme registrants. The common type of orthopedic injury included injury affecting the legs only (44.5%) while 64.9% sought orthodox treatment only. Most of the orthopedic patients preferred informal coping strategies (53%). Overall, orthopedic patients experienced more mental health issues than physical health issues (15.72% vs 10.41%). NHIS membership was significantly associated with the low quality of life of orthopedic patients (COR: 0.35, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.99). Conclusion: The SF-12 values shows that the physical component summary score (10.41) and mental component summary score (15.72) were low indicating low quality of life of orthopedic patients who use informal coping strategies, family, and social support.