Family Functioning, Emotional Distress, and Social Support before Brain Injury

Past Studies

Past Studies have clearly indicated that a substantial number of family caregivers of individuals with traumatic brain injury experience significant emotional distress and disruption in their lives. Researchers have documented problems with family and marital relationships, as well as the need for caregiver mental health services. The emotional stability and functioning of family caregivers is important because of the role they play in the recovery and care plan for the individual with traumatic brain injury. It has generally been assumed that the difficulties caregivers experience are directly related to the injury and its impact on their lives. Researchers have not characterized the preinjury family environment of adults with traumatic brain injury to see if it is associated with problems after the injury.

This Study

This Study included 191 caregivers of family members with traumatic brain injury. The caregivers were recruited for the study within 2 weeks of their family member’s admission to one of three Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems’ inpatient rehabilitation centers. The majority of the caregivers were white, well educated, and had an annual income of over $20,000. The researchers evaluated the caregiver’s emotional distress and family functioning in the month before injury. The researchers also collected information about the caregiver’s history of medical illness, psychiatric illness and treatment, substance abuse, race, and income.

The history of a psychiatric condition was reported by 27% of the caregivers, and 37% had symptoms of a psychiatric diagnosis one month before the injury. Thirty-two percent of caregivers reported a history of a serious medical illness. Poor family functioning was reported by 25% to 33% of the caregivers, especially by those with an annual income of less than $10,000. Overall, caregivers reported good satisfaction with social support before the injury, and very few caregivers reported a history of substance abuse. Race was not associated with a caregiver’s preinjury distress or unhealthy family functioning; however, most of the caregivers in this study were white.

Who May Be Affected By These Findings

Caregivers, healthcare providers, and researchers

Caveats

The researchers caution that the results of this study are not generalizable to all caregivers, but only apply to those who participated in this study. Larger studies with participants with more diverse characteristics are needed to produce results that could be generalized.

Bottom Line

A substantial amount of family caregivers reported a history of medical illness, psychiatric treatment, and family dysfunction prior to the brain injury event. The researchers suspect that family caregivers with prior difficulties may have increased problems coping after the experience of a brain injury in the family. Future research will determine if the family caregivers’ preinjury coping history can be used to predict their coping abilities after the brain injury event. It is hoped that if vulnerable caregivers can be identified early on, then they could receive help to lessen the impact of injury on their health and well-being.

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