Associations between coping style, illness perceptions and self-reported symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury in prospectively studied pre-morbidly healthy individuals

Abstract

This study investigated whether coping style and/or illness perceptions are related to the severity of self-reported post-concussion syndrome (PCS) symptoms in the post-acute period after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). We hypothesised that reporting of early and late enduring-type PCS symptomatology (self-reported symptoms) would be significantly and negatively associated with: (a) an active "approach" coping style and (b) the belief that the injury would have negative consequences on the respondent's life. Using a prospective observational design we assessed 61 pre-morbidly healthy individuals who were admitted to hospital after an mTBI. Participants were assessed with measures of copi..