The impact of personal protective factors on quality of life after traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACT

Primary objective

Examine the impact of four personal protective factors (self-awareness (SA), self-efficacy (SE), cognitive and emotional factors) on positive adaptation, or resiliency, in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI). We hypothesized that people with better SA and cognitive skills, less depression and positive SE will report better quality of life (QOL).

Research design

Correlational longitudinal design was used to explore relationships between outcome variables at initial evaluation and 6-months following initial evaluation

Methods and procedures

38 community-dwelling adults at least 1 year after sustaining a moderate-to-severe TBI were administered the Self-Efficacy Scale, Awareness Questionnaire, Chicago Multiscale Depression Inventory, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, and SF-12.

Main outcome and results

Higher rated SE and emotional functioning correlated with better QOL indicating SE and emotional functioning may be personal factors facilitating positive adaptation in persons with TBI. Interestingly, poorer cognitive functioning (i.e. processing speed) and lower SA correlated with better QOL. Additionally, cognitive and emotional functioning were significant predictors of QOL.

Conclusion

Strengthening emotional functioning and SE may improve outcomes after TBI. However, it may be that self-reported QoL is a poor outcome for people with TBI and measurement in future studies and practice should focus on actual engagement of activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognition
• resilience
• self-awareness
• self-efficacy
• quality of life

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research [H133A070037].