Self-awareness and its evaluation in patients after acquired brain injury

Abstract

Introduction: Self-awareness deficit is a complex cognitive-behavioural disorder that is typical of patients after acquired brain injury. Deficiency of self-awareness in these patients causes reduced motivation for rehabilitation or unrealistic expectations. It leads to poorer results in therapy and problems in engaging in activities in the wider community and in employment. Aim: The aim of this review study is to describe the definitions and theoretical models of self-awareness and to summarize the conclusions of research on how to assess self-awareness in adult patients after acquired brain injury in the last 15 years. Methods: Review with elements of systematization using PRISMA methodology. The search was performed in bibliographic and multidisciplinary electronic databases (Web of Science, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, Scopus). The work includes studies published from 2005 to 2020 inclusive. Results: A total of 544 sources were found. The final research included 14 studies that fall into one of three categories: definition of selfawareness, self-awareness models, and self-awareness assessment. Conclusions:The research shows that self-awareness is a complex concept that is part of metacognition. Its definition is inconsistent. Most often, self-awareness is conceptualized as the ability to objectively perceive and assess one's own situation while maintaining a certain subjectivity in understanding its importance to a person. Only two of the sought-after objective self-awareness assessments assess all its levels.