Adaptation Following Serious Brain Injury: An Assessment After One Year

Abstract

This study's major purposes were to identify preinjury psychosocial variables effecting social and vocational adjustment to serious traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to test the reliability and clinical usefulness of The Portland Adaptability Inventory (PAI). Twenty-five individuals with serious TBI served as subjects. Results showed the participants major adjustment problems at 13 months post-injury were psychosocial and family oriented, and that return to work or school was heavily dependent upon an individual's ability to engage in socially appropriate interactions. Predisability family functioning was associated with both the subject's return to work or school and with post-disability family functioning. The PAI was shown to be a reliable and useful measure of post TBI problem areas.