Does the cause of the mild traumatic brain injury affect the expectation of persistent postconcussion symptoms and psychological trauma?
BACKGROUND
A controlled experiment of the effect of injury cause on expectations of outcome from mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) was conducted.


METHODS
Ninety-three participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. The participants read a vignette that described a mild TBI (with fixed injury parameters) from a different cause (sport, domestic assault, fall, or motor vehicle accident). The effect of the manipulation on expectations of persistent postconcussion symptoms and psychological trauma was assessed with standard measures and a novel "threat-to-life" measure.


RESULTS
The Kruskal-Wallis H test for group differences revealed a significant but selective effect of group on symptom and trauma outcomes (ŋ2s ≥ .10; large effects). Post hoc pairwise tests showed that, in most cases, there was an expectation of a worse outcome following mild TBI from a domestic assault than from the other causes (small-to-medium effects).


CONCLUSIONS
Expectations were selectively altered by an experimental manipulation of injury cause. Given that expectations of outcome are known to affect mild TBI prognosis, the findings suggest the need for greater attention to injury cause.
a School of Psychology and Counselling , Queensland University of Technology (QUT) , Brisbane , QLD , Australia.|b Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation , Queensland University of Technology (QUT) , Brisbane , QLT , Australia.
Karen A
KA
Sullivan
a School of Psychology and Counselling , Queensland University of Technology (QUT) , Brisbane , QLD , Australia.|b Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation , Queensland University of Technology (QUT) , Brisbane , QLT , Australia.
Christina
C
Wade
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D038223:Post-Concussion Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000067073:Psychological Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055815:Young Adult
Concussion; Mild brain injury; Mild traumatic brain injury; Postconcussion symptoms; Posttrauma response; Simulation; Traumatic brain injury