Misconceptions about traumatic brain injury among students preparing to be special education professionals

Abstract

The researchers performed a survey study to determine the effectiveness of collegiate programmes in dispelling common misconceptions about traumatic brain injury (TBI) while preparing undergraduate and graduate students for special education (SpEd) careers. Respondents included 136 undergraduate and 147 graduate SpEd students in their final semesters before obtaining degrees. Each completed an 18‐item true/false survey about TBI and the associated recovery process. Results were compared with survey responses from 318 lay public respondents who participated in a previous study. Two major findings emerged: (a) no significant differences existed in misconception endorsement between SpEd students completing Bachelor's versus Master's degrees; and (b) graduating students in SpEd teacher preparation programmes endorsed similar misconceptions as lay public respondents; hence, these programmes do not appear effective in dispelling common TBI misconceptions. Improving academic preparation for special educators regarding TBI is imperative for effectively identifying, assessing and serving student survivors.

Traumatic brain injury : investigating misconceptions among graduate students in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology.

“…These findings are consistent with prior studies (Evans et al, 2009;Hux et al, 2013), where a majority of all participants, including the lay public, replied correctly to the same four statements. In the current study, no statistically significant difference in general knowledge was observed between first and second year graduate students.…”

“…Previous research has shown that misconceptions about TBI, particularly regarding coma, memory loss, and recovery, exist among students preparing to become SLPs and SpEds (Evans et al, 2009;Hux et al, 2013). Misconceptions of concussion have also been observed among licensed school-based SLPs (Duff & Stuck, 2015).…”

“…Hux et al (2013) found that students preparing to be special education professionals (SpEds) held misconceptions similar to those of the lay public. Regarding memory loss, 7% of undergraduate and 12% of graduate students refuted that "After head injury, people can forget who they are and not recognize others but appear normal in every other way" (Hux et al, 2013, p. 112).…”

“…Several repeat studies have consistently shown the presence of misconceptions regarding coma and unconsciousness, memory loss, and recovery. While individuals who have received TBI training tend to perform better overall than the general public, they still hold inaccurate knowledge of these aspects (Hux et al, 2013;Evans et al, 2009;Hooper, 2006;Ernst et al, 2016;Bradford, 2015).…”

“…Seventeen true-false statements about TBI knowledge and 16 true-false statements about concussion knowledge were offered. The researchers synthesized the survey instrument from past studies on TBI knowledge and misconceptions; the TBI knowledge items are identical to the validated questionnaire used by Hux et al (2013) and Evans et al (2009), which was adapted from the original questionnaire by Gouvier et al (1988). The 16 concussion statements are identical to the validated survey of concussion knowledge used by Duff and Stuck (2015).…”