Predictors of poor mental health following injury: A prospective study
Abstract
Mental health problems associated with traumatic injury are a serious public health concern. They incur enormous societal and economic costs and often have profound negative effects on individuals' quality of life. Research in the last two decades has uncovered an array of objective factors associated with poor mental health outcome following injury; however, many cognitive factors related to psychological problems after injury remain understudied. Research in this area typically examines either objective factors (such as demographic characteristics or characteristics of the injury) or cognitive factors (such as self-efficacy), but not both. This study strived to enhance our knowledge of both objective and cognitive predictors of poor psychological health after injury. These predictors were examined through two research aims. The first research aim was to test for relationships between demographic and clinical variables with level of PTSD and depressive symptomatology at six months post-injury. Demographic and clinical variables included age, gender, marital status, education status, injury type, and prior mental health status. The second research aim was to explore the predictive power of cognitive variables with level of PTSD and depressive symptomatology six months following the injury, over and above the effects of demographic and clinical variables. The cognitive variables examined were: anger, spirituality, self-efficacy, perceived functional impairment, and perception of responsibility for the injury.
This paper has been withdrawn.