NSI and PCL-5 Normative Tables for Active Duty Service Members Affected by Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Many service members (SMs) have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. Currently, military treatment facilities do not have access to established normative tables which can assist clinicians in gauging and comparing patient-reported symptoms. The aim of this study is to provide average scores for both the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) for active duty SMs based upon varying demographic groups. Methods Average scores were calculated for both the NSI and PCL-5 surveys from SMs who attended a military outpatient traumatic brain injury clinic. For this analysis, only the initial surveys for each SM were considered. The identifying demographics included age group, gender, grade, and race. Results Four normative tables were created to show the average scores of both the NSI and PCL-5 surveys grouped by demographics. The tables are grouped by Age Group/Gender/Race and Grade/Gender/Race. Conclusion Clinicians and healthcare administrators can use the scores reported in this study to determine where SM NSI or PCL-5 scores fall within the average for their demographic group.