Navigating Loneliness: Exploring the Social Dynamics of Travel After Spinal Cord Injury

Research Objectives: Loneliness poses a significant health risk, particularly for individuals with SCI (PwSCI). Emerging research suggests that travel can serve as a catalyst for fostering social relationships, potentially mitigating the adverse effects of loneliness. This study aims to investigate various social aspects of travel and their associations with loneliness among PwSCI.

Design: Cross-sectional survey research

Setting: Community

Participants: 1) registrants in the Rocky Mountain Regional Spinal Injury System (managed by Craig Hospital) scheduled for the anniversary survey between 2021-2024; and 2) members of peer support groups affiliated with Craig Hospital from 2023-2024.

Interventions: Not Applicable

Main Outcome Measures: 1) Loneliness: the 3-item UCLA’s scale; 2) Travel Frequency in the past 12 months: single item with 7 response categories from 0-20+ times; and 3) Social Relations during travel: relations with travel companions (5 items, α=.82), relations with new encounters (4 items, α=.75), and concerns for external perceptions (3 items, α=.78).

Results: Valid sample size was 212 respondents. Findings indicated a significant negative correlation between loneliness and post-injury years, travel frequency, relations with travel companions and new encounters, and a positive association with concerns about external perceptions during travel. Regression analysis demonstrated that travel frequency, relations with travel companions and new encounters, and concerns for external perceptions significantly contributed to loneliness, explaining 25.3% of the variance, after adjusting for post-injury years [F=13.30, p<.001]. Notably, relations with travel companions [B=-.66, CI:95% (-1.01, -.31)] and concerns for external perceptions [B=.56, CI:95% (.20, .93)] had unique contributions to loneliness in the adjusted multivariable model.

Conclusions: Findings emphasize that meaningful relationships with travel companions outweigh the importance of interactions with new people. Additionally, concerns about how individuals are treated by others during travel may intensify feelings of loneliness. This underscores the importance of supporting PwSCI in preserving and developing meaningful relationships as a critical aspect of rehabilitation.

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors do not have any conflict to declare.