Beliefs about brain injury in Britain

Abstract

Primary objective: Surveys have revealed that a high proportion of the public in the US and Canada hold misconceptions pertaining to the sequelae of brain injury. This study examined whether similar misconceptions are endorsed by adults in Britain.Research design: Survey Methods and procedures: Three hundred and twenty two participants completed a 17 item questionnaire containing true or false statements about general knowledge of brain injury, coma and consciousness, memory impairments and recovery.Main outcomes and results: Regardless of age, sex, level of education and familiarity with brain injury, participants held mistaken beliefs about consciousness, were inclined to underestimate the extent of memory deficits, and were unaware that patients are more vulnerable and less resistant to further injury. A large proportion of respondents indicated that their knowledge of brain injury had been derived from the popular media.Conclusions: Similar misconceptions to those reported in previous studies exist in Britain. Notably in this study these misconceptions were endorsed by a greater percentage of respondents. Greater public awareness is needed for decisions concerning funding and patient care. It is therefore important for health care professionals and public health campaigns to dispel myths about brain injury.

Misconceptions about traumatic brain injuries among South African university students

“…The categories that showed the most misconceptions were amnesia (49.7%) and unconsciousness (46.1%). Generally, these findings appear to be comparable to the findings of Hux et al [1] and Chapman and Hudson, [15] which also indicated misconception rates ranging from 43.8% to 60.6% for amnesia and 54.7% to 63.4% for unconciousness, and that these 2 categories bore the most misconceptions. Participants had the fewest misconceptions in the brain damage category (8.4%), which is similar to the findings of Hux et al [1] (8.3%) and Ernst et al [13] (6.6%).…”

“…Generally, these findings are in keeping with previous literature, which suggests that misconceptions about TBIs are common among the general population. [1,13,15] Some misconceptions appear to be more common than others. Examples of the more common misconceptions include the belief that when people are knocked unconscious, most will wake up quickly with no lasting effects (54% v. rates ranging from 48.11% to 59.28% in previous studies), [1,11] and the misconception that the primary goal of brain injury rehabilitation is to increase physical abilities such as walking (51.1% v. 65.5% in previous studies).…”

“…However, another study found that nursing students did have fewer such misconceptions compared with university students with varying majors. [14] Another recent study, conducted in Britain by Chapman and Hudson, [15] revealed that most misconceptions about TBI relate to consciousness (60.6%), the extent of memory deficits (63.4%) and recovery (48.2). These misconceptions were evident regardless of participants' age, sex, level of education and prior experience or familiarity with a brain injury.…”

“…[1,8,9,[13][14][15][16][17] Hux et al [18] focused on the knowledge and misconceptions about brain injury held by the general public, and establishing whether progress had been made in attempts to decrease misconceptions found in prior research. They found that almost half of the participants believed that: (i) after being knocked unconscious, most people wake up shortly and have no lasting effects; (ii) people with amnesia do not have trouble learning new things; and (iii) new learning following a TBI is no harder than remembering information that was mastered before the injury (misconceptions ranging from 23.58% to 48.48%).…”

Misconceptions about traumatic brain injury among probation services

“…This may further perpetuate the belief that traits such as increased aggression, a lack of empathy, or difficulty in adhering to programmes, such as those mandated by the court, are simply the fault of the Hudson examining misconceptions among the British public asked respondents to comment on where they had learned about brain injury (27). Of the 301 participants who responded to this question, 38%…”