The purpose of this study was to compare an education-oriented single session treatment (SS) for mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) to a more extensive assessment, education, and treatment-as-needed intervention (TAN). Participants were 111 adults with MTBI who were recruited from consecutive admissions to two hospital emergency wards. They were randomly assigned to either the SS or TAN modality. The groups did not differ on any demographic, injury-related, or questionnaire variable when first seen within 3 weeks of injury. The groups generally improved a similar amount and did not differ from each other on any symptom-related, functional, or vocational variables 3-4 months after their baseline session. Patient satisfaction ratings with services provided were also similar for the two groups. Brief educational intervention given soon after MTBI appears to be adequate for most MTBI survivors.

This study provided 3-month follow-up data to a previous paper that compared symptom complaints of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) with those of non-injured control participants within 1 month of injury. The 110 MTBI patients and 118 control participants were group-matched on age, gender, education level, and socioeconomic status. As a group, MTBI patients no longer endorsed significantly more symptoms (M = 14.09, S.D. = 10.77) than did the control group (M = 12.56, S.D. = 8.46, P = .232). Only 3 of the 43 queried symptoms were endorsed by significantly more (Bonferroni-corrected P < .00116) MTBI patients than controls. Using the same Bonferroni-corrected criteria, 10 of the 43 symptoms were endorsed at a significantly higher severity level by MTBI patients. Overall, the treated MTBI group's symptom complaints diminished from baseline to 3 months post-injury, with relatively few differences remaining between the two groups.

Demographic, injury-related, and symptom variables at intake, 3 months, and 12 months postinjury were compared between 50 treated adults with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) who were not seeking or receiving financial compensation at any time and 18 who were at each time. Compensation seekers/receivers reported symptom incidence and severity as approximately 1 SD higher at each time. The level of difference between the groups did not significantly differ across time. No demographic variables distinguished the groups. No injury-related variable other than more immediate postinjury prescription medication use was predictive of the greater symptom complaints for the patients seeking or receiving compensation. However, this medication effect did not explain away the compensation effect when medication use was co-varied in an analysis. Our study appears to be the first to examine the relationship between financial compensation and symptom report in an MTBI sample specifically treated for their condition. Our results indicate that even highly patient-rated treatment is not adequate to wash out the strong relationship between financial compensation status and symptom report after MTBI.

The present study design does not allow for determination of the reasons for the strong relationship between financial compensation-seeking soon post-MTBI and a slow return to work. However, the strength of the present findings indicates that the presence or absence of financial compensation-seeking soon post-MTBI should be routinely evaluated when return to work is an issue.