BACKGROUND: The field of positive psychology has grown exponentially within the last decade. To date, however, there have been few empirical initiatives to clarify the constructs within positive psychology as they relate to rehabilitation medicine. Character strengths, and in particular resilience, following neurological trauma are clinically observable within rehabilitation settings, and greater knowledge of the way in which these factors relate to treatment variables may allow for enhanced treatment conceptualization and planning. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to explore the relationships between positive psychology constructs (character strengths, resilience, and positive mood) and rehabilitation-related variables (perceptions of functional ability post-injury and beliefs about treatment) within a baseline data set, a six-month follow-up data set, and longitudinally across time points. METHODS: Pearson correlations and supplementary multiple regression analyses were conducted within and across these time points from a starting sample of thirty-nine individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI) in an outpatient rehabilitation program. RESULTS: Positive psychology constructs were related to rehabilitation-related variables within the baseline data set, within the follow-up data set, and longitudinally between baseline positive psychology variables and follow-up rehabilitation-related data. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings support relationships between character strengths, resilience, and positive mood states with perceptions of functional ability and expectations of treatment, respectively, which are primary factors in treatment success and quality of life outcomes in rehabilitation medicine settings. The results suggest the need for more research in this area, with an ultimate goal of incorporating positive psychology constructs into rehabilitation conceptualization and treatment planning.

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These findings support the role of anxiety in influencing functional outcome post-ABI and suggest the necessity of addressing symptoms of anxiety as an essential component of treatment in outpatient neurorehabilitation.

Racial/ethnic minorities and other vulnerable social groups experience health care disparities. There is a lack of research exploring how time to acute rehabilitation admission is impacted by race/ethnicity and other marginalizing systemic vulnerabilities. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether race/ethnicity and other sociodemographic vulnerabilities impact expediency of acute rehabilitation admission following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Research Method/Design: This study is a secondary analysis of an existing dataset of 111 patients admitted for acute TBI rehabilitation at an urban public hospital. Patient groups were defined by race/ethnicity (People of color or White) and vulnerable group status (high or low vulnerable group membership [VGM]). Results: White patients are admitted to acute TBI rehabilitation significantly faster than people of color. After taking vulnerabilities into account, high VGM people of color experience the most severe injuries and take the longest to receive acute TBI rehabilitation. Despite small differences in injury severity, low VGM people of color take longer to be admitted to acute TBI rehabilitation than White patients. High VGM White patients have less severe injuries yet take longer to be admitted to acute rehabilitation than low VGM White patients. Finally, notable differences exist between White patients and patients of color on raterbased injury severity scales that are discordant with severity as measured by more objective markers. Conclusions/Implications: Overall, findings indicate that sociodemographic factors including race/ ethnicity and systemic vulnerabilities impact injury severity and time to acute TBI rehabilitation admission. Impact and ImplicationsAlthough racial/ethnic minorities experience health care disparities following TBI, research on the combined effects of race/ethnicity with other marginalized identities has been neglected. This study is the first to demonstrate the impact of race/ethnicity and other systematic barriers on time to acute rehabilitation admission following TBI. This study confirms that even in a diverse, metropolitan public hospital, people of color wait longer to receive acute rehabilitation services following TBI. Culturally appropriate educational information regarding brain injury, as well as increased provider awareness of unconscious biases that inform clinical decision making, should underpin policy development and service delivery to ensure that people of color receive acute TBI rehabilitation with the same expediency as White patients.