Abstract

MORENO-FERGUSSON, María Elisa  and  AMAYA-REY, Pilar. Paraplegia: past and future of self. Index Enferm [online]. 2009, vol.18, n.3, pp.185-189. ISSN 1699-5988.

The purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of the literature published between 1988 and 2008 about changes in the body and embodiment of people with paraplegia secondary to spinal cord injury and it's relevance to nursing care. The review included 22 qualitative studies, 5 quantitative studies and 20 documental, issued by practitioners of health and human sciences. The results of the synthesis led to the conclusion that the consequences of the spinal injury cause dependence, altered body image, the social interaction, the sense of coherence and the embodiment of people with paraplegia. Over the time, people with paraplegia, acknowledge their "new body" and build a new embodiment, a process that has not yet been described and is considered essential to nursing care aimed at helping people with this type of injury to deal with daily difficulties.

Keywords : Paraplegia; Nursing; Embodiment; Systematic review.