TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2016//
TI  - Diagnosis threat and injury beliefs after mild traumatic brain injury
JO  - Archives of clinical neuropsychology
A1  - Carter-Allison, Samantha N.
A1  - Potter, Sebastian
A1  - Rimes, Katharine
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - BACKGROUND: Diagnosis threat is a psychosocial factor proposed to contribute to poor cognitive outcomes following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The current research explored diagnosis threat impact on objective and subjective cognitive performance in a "high risk" population of athletes. Two possible moderators of diagnosis threat - injury beliefs and suggestibility - were also investigated. <br><br>METHOD: Seventy-six participants with a history of mTBI were recruited through sports clubs and randomized to a months threat group (instructions drew attention to mTBI history) or a control group (no mention of mTBI). They completed a battery of neuropsychological tests and questionnaires regarding day-to-day cognitive abilities. Measures of depression, anxiety, illness beliefs and suggestibility were also collected. <br><br>RESULTS: No significant group differences were found on any neuropsychological tasks, nor on self-report of cognitive difficulties. Illness beliefs were not found to play a moderating role in general, although the majority of the study sample did not report negative mTBI beliefs and expectations: concern about the consequences of injury was associated with weaker performance on one test, WAIS-III Digit Span performance. Suggestibility was also found to have a significant affect on this test. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis threat did not appear to have a marked affect on objective or subjective cognitive performance after mTBI in athletes. Differing injury beliefs between the study's athlete population and the general population is a possible explanation for different findings in the area. This and other sources of potential variation in the affect of diagnosis threat are discussed.<br><br>© Crown copyright 2016.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0887-6177
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acw062
ID  - ref1
ER  -