title: Just how bad is it? Comparison of the mental health of Mexican traumatic brain injury caregivers to age-matched healthy controls.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the mental health of family caregivers of individuals with Traumatic brain injury (TBI) to an age-matched healthy control from Guadalajara, Mexico.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital Civil Fray Antonio Alcade, a public medical facility in Guadalajara, Mexico.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety family caregivers of individuals with TBI and 89 healthy controls (n = 179) did not differ with respect to age, sex, marital status, education, or household income.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outcome measures assessed satisfaction with life (Satisfaction with Life Scale), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), social support (Interpersonal Support Evaluation List), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), and anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A multivariate analysis of variance found that in comparison to controls, TBI caregivers reported substantially lower mental health scores across all indices, as well as lower social support in two out of three comparisons. The effect sizes of the social support differences were small; two out of five mental health differences reached medium-sized effects; and the other three reached large-sized effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Because TBI caregivers' mental health influences the quality of informal care they can provide, mental health interventions for family caregivers are an extremely important part of TBI rehabilitation in Latin America, especially considering familism as a core value in Latino culture.
authors: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors: Paul B
authors: PB
authors: Perrin
authors: Lillian Flores
authors: LF
authors: Stevens
authors: Teresita
authors: T
authors: Villaseñor Cabrera
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Jimenez-Maldonado
authors: Maria Luisa
authors: ML
authors: Martinez-Cortes
authors: Juan Carlos
authors: JC
authors: Arango-Lasprilla
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires