28007444

PMC5812739

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention designed to reduce traumatic brain injury (TBI)–related misconceptions among blacks and Latinos with complicated mild to severe TBI.

Design

Randomized controlled trial with masked 1-month follow-up.

Setting

Community.

Participants

Persons (N = 52) with complicated mild to severe TBI (mean best day 1 Glasgow Coma Scale score, 11.27±3.89) were randomly recruited from 141 eligible participants (mean age, 37.71±13.88y; age range, 19–66y; mean months postinjury, 24.69±11.50); 25 participants (48.1%) of participants were black and 27 (51.9%) were Hispanic/Latino. Of the Hispanic/Latino participants, 18 (66.7%) were non-U.S. born and 12 (44.4%) spoke Spanish as their primary language. Twenty-seven individuals were randomized to the educational intervention group and 25 were randomized to the wait-list control group.

Interventions

Single-session educational intervention with written materials provided in English or Spanish.

Main Outcome Measures

Forty-item Common Misconceptions about Traumatic Brain Injury Questionnaire administered at baseline and 1-month follow-up.

Results

After controlling for ethnic and language differences, a significant between-group main effect (P = .010) and a significant time-group interaction for the Common Misconceptions about Traumatic Brain Injury Questionnaire were noted (Wilks Λ = .89; F1,46 = 6.00; P = .02). The intervention group showed a decrease in TBI misconception percentages, whereas the wait-list control group maintained similar percentages. At 1-month follow-up, the wait-list control group reported more misconceptions than did the intervention group (P = .019).

Conclusions

An educational intervention developed to address the recovery process, common symptoms, and ways to handle the symptoms provides promise as a tool to decrease TBI misconceptions among persons from ethnically and educationally diverse backgrounds. The effects of therapist characteristics and the client-therapist relation on outcomes should be further explored.

CDC Public Access

P30 AG024832/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States
R24 HS022134/HS/AHRQ HHS/United States
U48 DP000028/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States
U48 DP000060/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States