Self-awareness of traumatically brain injured patients in the acute inpatient rehabilitation setting

Abstract

The self-awareness of brain injured patients in an acute inpatient rehabilitation programme was measured using the Functional Self-Appraisal Scale (FSAS), which compares patient and staff ratings of patient performance on tasks relevant for acute rehabilitation and in a format that is easy to administer. There was a significant difference between patients' and staff's ratings near admission, consistent with previous findings in post-acute settings that brain injured patients tend to overestimate their abilities relative to other raters. Patient and staff ratings tended to converge at time of discharge, likely reflecting patients' improvements on rehabilitation tasks rather than increased self-awareness. The average difference between patients' and staff's ratings did not correlate with neuropsychological functioning on admission, supporting evidence that self-awareness early in the recovery process is a unique construct. Future research is outlined, including investigating the relationship of early levels of self-awareness following TBI to functional outcome.