New vignettes for the experimental manipulation of injury cause in prospective mild traumatic brain injury research

Abstract

Purpose: This study developed standardized vignettes that depict a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) from one of several causes and subjected them to formal expert review.

Method: A base vignette was developed using the World Health Organization operational criteria for mild TBI. Eight specific causes (e.g. sport vs assault) were examined. A convenience sample of mild TBI experts with a discipline background of Neuropsychology from North America, Australasia and Europe (n = 21) used an online survey to evaluate the vignettes and rated the role of cause on outcome.

Results: The vignette suite was rated as fitting the mild TBI WHO operational diagnostic criteria at least moderately well. When compared to other factors, cause was not rated as significantly contributing to outcome. When evaluated in isolation, approximately half of the sample rated cause as important or very important and at least two of three clinical outcomes were associated with a different cause.

Discussion: The vignettes may be useful in experimental mild TBI research. They enable the injury parameters to be controlled so that the effects of cause can be isolated and examined empirically. Such studies should advance understanding of the role of this factor in mild TBI outcome.

Keywords:

• Traumatic brain injury
• concussion
• mild brain
• vignette
• survey

Acknowledgements

The Queensland University of Technology University Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC no. 1200000150) approved this research. The authors thank the organizers of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology Conference for permission to post a note about this study at the June 2015 conference. The researchers thank Ms. Christina Wade for assisting with the vignette pilot test and contributing some ideas to the content of the vignettes. The support and involvement of the expert reviewers is very gratefully acknowledged.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.