Objective:

Delve into the experience of coping on the part of persons with a spinal cord injury (SCI), contemplating both current coping and coping during the initial moments after suffering a SCI.

Materials and methods:

This is cross-sectional survey. The participants included 127 persons with long-term SCI: 95 men and 32 women. The information was collected through an online questionnaire with sociodemographic information and through the Stress Coping Questionnaire (CAE). Descriptive analyzes, student t-tests and multivariate analysis of variance (Manovas) were conducted.

Results:

Intrasubject comparisons show the strategy focused on problem-solving is used more in current coping. Negative self-targeting was used more in past coping, during the initial moments after suffering the ML. The results of the Manovas show there are no gender differences in remembered coping or in current coping. The follow-up Anova for current coping shows women make more use of strategies involving a search for social support and open emotional expression.

Conclusions:

There are no gender differences in the use of coping strategies in the case of ML. It is suggested that further research be done on how gender can act in this process.

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