Abstract
Objectives
To investigate the prevalence of personality change after severe brain injury; to
identify predictors of personality change; and to investigate whether personality
change is associated with distress in family members.
Design
A longitudinal study of personality change.
Setting
Rehabilitation unit.
Participants
The study sample was composed of 22 pairs of patients with traumatic brain injury
or nontraumatic brain injury (N=22) and their significant others (SOs).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
An SO completed the observer version of the NEO Five Factor Inventory rating the patient
at discharge from hospital and 1 year after injury. The SOs were also asked to complete
the anxiety and depression scales of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, rating their
own emotional condition and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as assessed by
the 4 mental scales of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey.
Results
Of the sample, 59.1% experienced personality change after acquired brain injury, and
the most dominant changes were observed in the personality traits of neuroticism,
extraversion, and conscientiousness. Changes in neuroticism were most often observed
in patients with frontal or temporal lesions. Generally, personality changes in patients
were not associated with more distress and lower HRQOL in family members; however,
change in patient agreeableness was associated with lower HRQOL on the role limitations-emotional
scale.
Conclusions
Personality change was observed in most patients with severe brain injury. Change
in neuroticism was associated with frontal and temporal lesions. Generally, personality
change was not associated with more distress and lower HRQOL in SOs.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
HRQOL (health-related quality of life), NEO-FFI (NEO Five Factor Inventory), NEO-PI-R (NEO Personality Inventory-Revised), RCI (Reliable Change Index), SF-36 (Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey), SO (significant other), TBI (traumatic brain injury)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 02, 2014
Footnotes
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
