Traumatic Brain Injury Brief Outcome Interview

Abstract

There is much evidence that deficits in physical and psychological functioning persist long after traumatic brain injury occurs. This paper presents a brief outcome interview (BOI) that can be administered in person or over the telephone, with evaluation of change in functioning in three areas: (a) occupational status, (b) mobility/activities of daily living (ADL), and (c) social relationships. Forty-four traumatic brain injury participants were evaluated at an average of 6.2 years postinjury with the present BOI as well as with the Glasgow Outcome Scale and Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS). The BOI demonstrated strong concurrent validity with both scales, as well as strong test-retest reliability. IQ and memory scores obtained at an average of 4.1 months postinjury suggested that the injury was moderately severe. The average score on the GPS suggested "good recovery" and the average score on the KPS suggested "normal activity with effort, some signs or symptoms." These descriptions matched the BOI for the mobility/ADL dimension, for which all respondents reported some form of independent mobility, and 88.6% of the respondents reported no need for any kind of assistance in daily life functioning. However, significant long-term issues were seen for social and occupational functioning. Fifty-four percent said that they did not socialize as much as before their injury, and half of the participants reported not being involved in a romantic relationship in spite of an average age of 32 years. In terms of occupational status, 40.9% reported not working at all at any kind of job. Compared to before their injury, 47.7% said this was less time, 40.9% said that it was for a lower salary, and 54.5% said that their responsibilities were less. The stability of these social and occupational changes was indicated by high test-test reliabilities for the overall BOI score and the three subscale scores (r's ranged from .97 to 1.0). These stable long-term changes are consistent with some other studies and suggest that the social and occupational needs of this population warrant more attention.