1. Health Locus of Control is Related to Life Satisfaction and Rehabilitation Outcomes
Gal Slonim1, Ayala Bloch1 & Gabi Zeilig1,2
1Sheba Medical Center, 2Tel-Aviv University
Results
Introduction
Health Locus of Control (HLOC) refers to the degree to which individuals believe that their health is controlled by internal versus external factors.
Internal HLOC signifies the extent to which an individual believes his or her actions contribute directly to health status. External HLOC contains two components: an individual’s expectancies that powerful others (e.g. doctors, nurses) control his or her health and the belief that chance factors (fate, luck) control his or her health.
The first objective of the study was to examine whether rehabilitation inpatients with spinal cord injury have different levels of Internal and External HLOC compared to the general population. The second purpose was to determine the relationships between HLOC, the pace of functional improvement and life satisfaction among this population.
Method
25 rehabilitation inpatients (76% male; mean age 43.88) with spinal cord injury. The control group consisted of 25 healthy individuals (76% male; mean age 45.63).
HLOC was measured using Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Questionnaire (MHLC; Wallston et al., 1978). Life Satisfaction was measured using LISAT-9 questionnaire (Melin et al., 2003). Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM; Catz, Itzkovitch et al., 1997) was used to evaluate the level of function. The pace of functional improvement was defined as the difference between the SCIM score at discharge and the SCIM score at admission, divided by the length of stay (in days).
The study group had lower Internal HLOC and life satisfaction levels compared to the control group (Fig. 1).
A positive correlation was found between Internal HLOC and the pace of functional improvement (r=0.53, p<.01). Negative correlations with the pace of functional improvement were found for External-Powerful Others HLOC (r=-0.41, p<.05) and for External-Chance HLOC (r=-0.50, p<.05).
A positive correlation was found between Internal HLOC and life satisfaction in the study group.
There are two possible causal explanations for the correlation found between Internal HLOC and life satisfaction:
Illness and disability may lead to a decrease in Internal HLOC which in turn reduces life satisfaction.
Illness and disability may reduce life satisfaction which leads to a decrease in Internal HLOC.
We suggest that increasing an inpatient’s sense of control over his or her medical condition could be beneficial by improving rehabilitation outcomes and life satisfaction.
Discussion
Figure 1. Life Satisfaction and HLOC Levels: Rehabilitation Inpatients Group vs. Control Group
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