Examining the Effect of Education Type on Common Misconceptions of Traumatic Brain Injury

<p>It has been widely shown that misconceptions related to traumatic brain injury (TBI) are held among both family members of people with TBI and the general public. These misconceptions have the potential to increase the distress of people with TBI and negatively impact rehabilitation processes. Although increased education has often been suggested to reduce misconceptions, few studies have examined which methods are most effective in providing information to the public. In the current study, I investigated the effects of existing education materials – either a TBI factsheet or personal stories of people with TBI. These materials are currently easily accessible online, but the effect they have on those who read them has not been studied. I explored the influence of these tools on both misconceptions of TBI and misattributions of behavior resulting from injury to life stage (i.e., adolescence). Results suggest that, on average, factsheets may be more effective for increasing knowledge about TBI than personal stories or a control group. Personal stories may be more useful, on average, for decreasing misattributions, as compared to a control group.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS Experimental Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• De Iorio, Monica

Contributors dc:contributor

• Susan A. Nolan, PhD
• Kelly M. Goedert, PhD
• Susan M. Teague, PhD

• traumatic brain injury
• education
• misconception
• attribution
• factsheet
• personal stories
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2052

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.shu.edu:dissertations-3091