TIRR Memorial Hermann/Baylor College of Medicine/UT Health Collaborative TBI Model System

This collaborative project increases understanding of longitudinal outcomes for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and of services needed to improve them. The goals of this project include: (1) improving mental health monitoring and treatment for individuals with TBI; and (2) contributing knowledge regarding individual health perceptions that can reflect different social determinants of health and that can impact communication between people with TBI and their healthcare professionals, as well as overall health and participation outcomes. To accomplish these goals, this project conducts site-specific research to track temporal patterns of everyday neurobehavioral symptoms (e.g., emotions, fatigue, cognitive challenges, and substance use) that often develop into mental health conditions across the first year after TBI, and to determine patterns in these symptoms that predict a diagnosis of depression or anxiety at 1-year postinjury. Tracking is conducted via a mobile health platform developed specifically with and for individuals with TBI allowing for real-time data collection on emotional and behavioral symptoms in individuals’ day-to-day lives. The platform provides an archive of repeated assessments that can help people with TBI to track their overall mental health over time and seek supports as needed. This project also conducts a collaborative module project to validate a measure of health perceptions for individuals with TBI. This study examines and validates the Multidimensional Health Perceptions Questionnaire (MHPQ) measure, originally designed for the general population, for use with diverse individuals with TBI. Researchers conduct latent profile analysis to determine profiles of individuals regarding health perceptions that may contribute to effectiveness of communications between individuals with TBI and their healthcare providers, as well as the relationship between health perceptions and participation outcomes. Project outcomes include new research data that may be used to improve communication between individuals with TBI and their healthcare providers and resources for providers to offer tailored care to improve mental health outcomes for individuals with TBI.