Objective: To measure the subjective psychosocial health of a population-based sample of adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Design: Retrospective, cohort study involving a 1-year postinjury interview.
Setting: Sixty-two acute care, nonfederal hospitals in South Carolina.
Participants: Persons (> or =15y) hospitalized with TBI.
Interventions: Not applicable.
Main outcome measure: The psychosocial health scales of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey.
Results: Of the 7612 participants, 29% reported poor psychosocial health. Factors associated with poor psychosocial well-being included younger age, female sex, Medicaid coverage, no health insurance, inadequate or moderate social support, comorbidities (eg, a preinjury substance abuse problem), cognitive complaints, and some or a lot of limitation with activities of daily living. Only 36% of participants who reported poor psychosocial health reported receiving any mental health services.
Conclusions: A substantial proportion of persons hospitalized with TBI reported poor psychosocial health at 1 year postinjury. To optimize recovery, clinicians need to ensure that patients' psychosocial health needs are addressed during the postacute period.