Long-term subjective quality of life and adjustment following traumatic brain injury

It is clear from researcht hat a traumatic brain injury has persistent consequencesth at force a person to change life goals and fundamental beliefs about the self. Two relatively underresearched areas in the field of traumatic brain injury are long-term outcome, and self-perceived outcome. This research combines the two in order to investigate long-term subjective quality of survival. The two main research questions formulated were: 1. What is the subjective quality of life of a sample of brain injured people compared to that of a matched, non-clinical control group. 2. Can subjective quality of life be predicted using injury-related variables and adjustmentrelated variables? Overall, it would seem that brain injured people had managed to adapt very well to the long-term consequences of their traumatic brain injury. They experienced the same global subjective quality of life as a matched control group, and scored similarly in terms of 14 out of 16 domains of satisfaction. However, brain injured people did not adapt in all life domains, particularly not in terms of satisfaction with their mental abilities, their sexual life, and not having a partner. It would also seem that a number of adaptive tasks are highly related to this outcome, including the way the patient perceives his own problems, whether he has incorporated his limitations into his new perception of himself, and whether he no longer compares his present situation to his pre-injury past. At the same time, the patient's objective health status in terms of his post traumatic amnesia and cognitive deficits was not related to subjective quality of life at all. In 35.5% of all interviewed cases, either the brain injured person or the significant other responded with `yes' to questions whether the brain injured person had ever attempted to commit suicide. Brain injured people reported positive effects in terms of changes in self-perception, understanding social relations, and life orientation. The results in this study are contrasted with those found in other fields, discussed within a subjective and an appraisal approach, and the clinical implications that arise from this thesis are spelled out.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2001

Author dc:creator

• Jacobs, Koen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lamb, Roger
• Brooks, Neil

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/dykd-8g68

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:46dca4ab-b50a-4b05-856d-cc432681438d:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1