Knowledge of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Effects of age, locality, occupation, media and sports participation

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Knowledge of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Effects of age, locality, occupation, media and sports participation Michelle Wilkes1* and James Donnelly1 1 Southern Cross University, Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Australia Aims: Misconceptions about the effects, treatment and diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) have been reported as robust. These misconceptions can have detrimental effects on TBI survivors. The aim of this study was to understand Australians’ knowledge in relation to TBI and gather data on which information sources respondents relied. Method: Australian participants (n = 373) were recruited through a university email distribution list and social media. A modified Common Misconceptions about Traumatic Brain Injury Questionnaire (CM-TBI) (Linden, Braiden & Miller, 2013) was administered online. Additionally, respondents provided demographic information and endorsed possible sources of TBI knowledge. Results: Misconceptions about TBI were reported by participants, irrespective of gender, locality, occupation, or history of sports participation. There were no significant differences in knowledge scores across these demographic groups. In particular, healthcare and education workers did not score any higher than other occupations. At least 40% of respondents answered either incorrectly or “I don’t know” on items related to gender differences, the utility of neuroimaging, and patient insight into their impairments. For those in non-medical, professional occupations, the older they were the less they knew about TBI (r = -.299, p = 0.009). In contrast, a positive correlation (r = 0.268, p = 0.018) was found between age and TBI knowledge for workers in healthcare or education. Conclusions: Misconceptions about TBI are present in Australia and are consistent across genders, localities, occupations and sport participation groups. A concern is that risk for misconceptions is not lower in healthcare or education professions. This suggests that professional development for groups most likely to be the frontline referral resources and supports for head injured children and adults may require further training. Keywords: Traumatic Brain Injury, knowledge, misconceptions, Sports participation Conference: 12th Annual Psychology Research Conference, 2015, Coffs Harbour, Australia, 25 Sep - 26 Sep, 2015. Presentation Type: Research Topic: Psychology Citation: Wilkes M and Donnelly J (2015). Knowledge of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Effects of age, locality, occupation, media and sports participation. Front. Psychol. Conference Abstract: 12th Annual Psychology Research Conference, 2015. doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.66.00001 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 23 Sep 2015; Published Online: 23 Sep 2015. * Correspondence: Ms. Michelle Wilkes, Southern Cross University, Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Coffs Harbour, NSW, 2450, Australia, m.wilkes.10@student.scu.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Michelle Wilkes James Donnelly Google Michelle Wilkes James Donnelly Google Scholar Michelle Wilkes James Donnelly PubMed Michelle Wilkes James Donnelly Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.