Abstract
Objectives
To (1) assess long-term health care service utilization and satisfaction with health
care services among women with traumatic brain injury (W-TBI); (2) examine barriers
that prevent W-TBI from receiving care when needed; and (3) understand the perceived
supports available for W-TBI.
Design
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting
Community.
Participants
W-TBI (n=105) 5 to 12 years postinjury and women without TBI (n=105) matched on age,
education, and geographic location.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Pre- and postinjury data were collected using a questionnaire administered via a semistructured
interview. Questions on health services utilization, satisfaction with and quality
of services, barriers to receiving care, and perceived social support were from the
Canadian Community Health Survey; additional questions on perceived social support
were from another large-scale study of people with moderate to severe brain injury.
Results
Compared with women without TBI, W-TBI reported using more family physician and community
health services. W-TBI reported that they did not receive care when needed (40%),
particularly for emotional/mental health problems. Significantly more W-TBI reported
financial and structural barriers. There were no significant differences in reported
satisfaction with services between women with and without TBI.
Conclusions
Health service providers and policymakers should recognize the long-term health and
social needs of W-TBI and address societal factors that result in financial and structural
barriers, to ensure access to needed services.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CCHS (Canadian Community Health Survey), GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale), OR (odds ratio), TBI (traumatic brain injury), W-TBI (women with 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: February 20, 2015
Footnotes
Supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (grant no. 200903MOP); the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute–University Health Network (UHN); a grant from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-UHN; a CIHR Fellowship Award and CIHR Strategic Training Fellowship in Health Care, Technology and Place (award no. FRN: STP 53911); a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Team Grant in Applied Injury Research (grant no. TIR-103946); the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation; the Saunderson Family Chair at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-UHN; and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Research Chair in Gender, Work and Health (grant no. CGW-126580) from the Institute of Gender and Health.
Publication of this article was supported by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
