Citation

Rosema S, Muscara F, Anderson V, Godfrey C, Hearps SJ, Catroppa C. J. Neurotrauma 2015; 32(13): 976-983.

Affiliation

Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Child Neuropsychology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ; stefanie.rosema@mcri.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2014.3567

PMID

25590265

Abstract

Childhood traumatic brain injury (CTBI) is one of the most common causes of impairment in children and adolescents; with psychosocial difficulties found to be the most persisting. Given that the transition into adolescence and adulthood can be a stressful period, it is likely that young people who have also sustained a CTBI will be more vulnerable with regards to developing psychosocial problems. To date, most research has focused on psychosocial development up to 5 years following a CTBI and it is unclear how survivors develop in the long-term as young adults. The aim of this research was to track the long-term psychosocial outcomes of children with CTBI and compare them to healthy controls over a period of 16 years. Seventy-five participants with a CTBI and 29 control participants were followed up at five time points over a period of 16 years. To measure psychosocial functioning (social skills, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms), questionnaires were completed by the primary caregiver acutely (pre-injury baseline), then 6 months, 5 years, 10 years and 16 years post-injury. No significant group differences were found regarding the developmental trajectory of social skills, or internalizing and externalizing symptoms between the CTBI and control groups. The severe CTBI group demonstrated a trend of lower social skills, while the mild CTBI group showed a trend of higher internalizing and externalizing skills at 6 months, 5 years and 10 years post-CTBI event compared to other groups. The mild CTBI group scored in the borderline range for externalizing symptoms 6 months post-CTBI, however, all other mean scores were within the normal range. Over a period of 16 years, young adults with CTBI showed similar developmental trajectories regarding psychosocial outcomes compared to healthy controls. This study confirmed previous literature that CTBI is associated with increased levels of psychosocial problems.

Language: en