Citation

Luiselli JK, Dion D, Hammil E, Potoczny-Gray A, Savage RC, Sherak DL. J. Child Fam. Stud. 2000; 9(4): 481-489.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/A:1009422910042

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

There is a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents who have acquired brain injury (ABI). We examined the records of 82 students with ABI who were admitted to a community-based school for education and neurorehabilitation over a three-year period to determine how many experienced one or more psychiatric hospitalizations before admission, and whether hospitalization status was related to positive school and community adjustment. Results were that 30.4% of the students had a documented history of one or more psychiatric hospitalizations. Of this group, 60.0% were able to be maintained in the community-based school program and 40.0% were discharged to other settings. When discharged, 70.0% of students entered "more restrictive" treatment programs (e.g., psychiatric hospital, secure residential facility, residential school). The number of psychiatric hospitalizations did not predict discharge from the community-based school and was unrelated to the type of discharge setting. Clinical and research issues concerning psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents with ABI in relation to post-acute adjustment are discussed.