Resilience and the mediating effects of executive dysfunction after childhood brain injury: A comparison between children aged 9–15 years with brain injury and non-injured controls

Abstract

Assessment of resilience after ABI may be useful in supporting or defining the delivery of more individualized rehabilitation programmes according to the resources and vulnerabilities a young person has. However, an accurate understanding of the role of EF in the relationship between resilience and behavioural outcome after ABI is essential.

Parent-reported mild head injury history and behavioural performance in children at 6 years

“…Prins et al [40], using diffuse tensor imaging (DTI) in a sample of juvenile rats, found that white matter damage and increased reactive astrocytosis were observable after a single, mild impact and that this damage increased noticeably with a second insult endured shortly after. Previous DTI studies in children and adolescents have shown that decreased white matter is linked to severity of post-concussive symptoms and executive function deficits [41, 42], which may significantly mediate behavioural outcomes [43]. Given that the head injuries included in this sample were lower-grade concussions (e.g.…”

Positive psychology in rehabilitation medicine: A brief report

“…In particular, as positive mood correlates with treatment expectations, which is an important factor underlying success of psychological treatments (Tsai, Ogrodniczuk, Sochting, & Mirmiran, 2012;Vogel, Wester, Wei, & Boysen, 2005), enhancement of mood early in treatment may have longer-term implications for both response to intervention and quality-of-life outcomes. As the applications of positive psychology continue to emerge within rehabilitation medicine, our findings indicate that in addition to addressing depression, supporting positive moods and character strengths may be directly relevant to treatment success (Dunn & Dougherty, 2005;Evans, 2012;Majani, 2011;Tonks et al, 2011;Wells et al, 2011).…”

“…As the applications of positive psychology to rehabilitation medicine continue to grow, there is an essential need for development of clearer operational definitions and appropriate instruments to measure these constructs as they apply to individuals with ABI. In addition, interventions already exist to increase factors such as resilience and happiness in healthy volunteers and in child and military samples (Perlman et al, 2010;Seligman, Rashid, & Parks, 2006;Seligman et al 2005;Tonks et al, 2011;Wells et al, 2011), and there is a growing consensus that in order to be maximally effective, neuropsychological rehabilitation must address both objective cognitive deficits and subjective attitudinal, motivational, and emotional factors (e.g., self-efficacy, confidence, self-esteem) in tandem. As such, building empirically validated positive psychology treatment models is crucial to maximizing rehabilitative potential and research within adult civilian populations as well (e.g., Ben-Yishay & Diller, 2011;Cicerone et al, 2005Cicerone et al, , 2011Cicerone & Azulay, 2007;Gordon, Cantor, Ashman, & Brown, 2006;Mateer, Sira, & O'Connell, 2005;Montgomery, 1995;Prigatano, 2003;Schutz & Trainor, 2007;Wilson, 2005).…”

“…Emerging evidence has supported applications of this concept in samples of children with acquired brain injury (ABI), and within the context of "resilience training" for United States military personnel at increased risk for traumatic brain injury (Lester, Harms, Herian, Krasikova, & Beal, 2013;Tonks et al, 2011;Wells et al, 2011). One systematic approach to studying the relevance of character strengths and resilience within rehabilitation settings is to clarify their relationships to factors already known to relate to treatment outcomes, such as use of coping strategies, appraisals or interpretations of stressors, and perceptions of function, health and well-being (Bonanno, Kennedy, Galatzer-Levy, Lude, & Elfström, 2012;Catalano, Chan, Wilson, Chiu, & Muller, 2011;Chan, Lai, & Wong, 2007;Kortte, Stevenson, Hosey, Castillo, & Wegener, 2012).…”

“…One systematic approach to studying the relevance of character strengths and resilience within rehabilitation settings is to clarify their relationships to factors already known to relate to treatment outcomes, such as use of coping strategies, appraisals or interpretations of stressors, and perceptions of function, health and well-being (Bonanno, Kennedy, Galatzer-Levy, Lude, & Elfström, 2012;Catalano, Chan, Wilson, Chiu, & Muller, 2011;Chan, Lai, & Wong, 2007;Kortte, Stevenson, Hosey, Castillo, & Wegener, 2012). As these relationships are better understood within the frameworks of current standard-of-care models, further initiatives may then be taken to expand them into individualized treatment conceptualization and planning (Tonks et al, 2011).…”