Health symptoms after war zone deployment-related mild traumatic brain injury: contributions of mental disorders and lifetime brain injuries.

Primary Objective: To gain a better understanding of the complex relationship between combat deployment-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCSs), taking into consideration a wide range of potentially mediating and confounding factors.

Research Design: Cross-sectional.

Methods And Procedures: Subjects were 613 U.

The Veterans Health Administration's traumatic brain injury clinical reminder screen and evaluation: Practice patterns.

The goals of this study were to describe clinical practice patterns associated with the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA's) Comprehensive Traumatic Brain Injury Evaluation (CTBIE) and determine whether practice patterns vary by patient, provider, or facility characteristics. Veterans (N = 614) who had initial healthcare visits between 2008, and 2011 and who had previously completed the VHA's traumatic brain injury (TBI) screen and subsequent CTBIE were drawn from a national database. Participants were primarily male (95%) with a mean age of 29.

Embedded Performance Validity Measures with Postdeployment Veterans: Cross-Validation and Efficiency with Multiple Measures.

Embedded validity measures support comprehensive assessment of performance validity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of individual embedded measures and to reduce them to the most efficient combination. The sample included 212 postdeployment veterans (average age = 35 years, average education = 14 years).

Personality Assessment Inventory profiles of veterans: Differential effects of mild traumatic brain injury and psychopathology.

Objective: Neuropsychiatric complaints often accompany mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), a common condition in post-deployed Veterans. Self-report, multi-scale personality inventories may elucidate the pattern of psychiatric distress in this cohort. This study investigated valid Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) profiles in post-deployed Veterans.

Factor structure and construct validity of the Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale-II.

The Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale-II (BDS-II) was developed as an improved scoring method to the original BDS, which was designed to evaluate the capacity for independent regulation of behavior and attention. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure and construct validity of the BDS-II, which had not been adequately re-examined since the development of the new scoring system. In a sample of 164 Veterans with a mean age of 35 years, exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate BDS-II latent factor structure.

The Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale-II with non-elderly veterans.

The Behavioral Dyscontrol Scale-II (BDS-II) is a unique test of frontal lobe function. Although the test was created for use in geriatric populations, it can add useful data to assessments of non-elderly patients. The original scoring system for the BDS was characterized by a low ceiling, limiting its use with higher functioning populations.

Performance on the Green Word Memory Test following Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom-era military service: Test failure is related to evaluation context.

This study investigates prior reports of high neuropsychological symptom validity test (SVT) failure rates in post-deployed Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) active and veteran military personnel, using a large, multi-site sample (N = 214) drawn from three levels of the Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Polytrauma System of Care. The sample failure rate and its relationship to research versus dual research/clinical context of evaluation were examined, in addition to secondary variables explored in prior studies. Results yielded an overall failure rate of 25%, lower than prior reports describing OEF/OIF active-duty and veteran military personnel.

Association of trauma exposure with psychiatric morbidity in military veterans who have served since September 11, 2001.

Objective: This study examined the association of lifetime traumatic stress with psychiatric diagnostic status and symptom severity in veterans serving in the US military after 9/11/01.

Method: Data from 356 US military veterans were analyzed. Measures included a standardized clinical interview measure of psychiatric disorders, and paper-and-pencil assessments of trauma history, demographic variables, intellectual functioning, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, alcohol misuse, and global distress.

Relationship between processing speed and executive functioning performance among OEF/OIF veterans: implications for postdeployment rehabilitation.

Background: Comorbid mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common clinical presentation among troops returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). This study examined processing speed and executive functioning in a sample of OEF/OIF veterans who had sustained mTBI, a subset of whom also had comorbid PTSD.

Methods: Fifty-three OEF/OIF veterans with a history of mTBI completed Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III Symbol Search and Digit Symbol-Coding subscales, Stroop Word, color and color-word trials, and Trail Making Test, Parts A and B as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery.

Cognitive sequelae of blast-related versus other mechanisms of brain trauma.

The use of improvised explosive devices has become the hallmark of modern warfare and has resulted in an ever-increasing number of blast-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Despite this fact, very little is actually known about the cognitive sequelae of blast-related TBIs. The purpose of the current study was to compare patterns of performance on neuropsychological measures in subjects who have sustained TBIs as a result of blast (or explosion) with those who have sustained TBIs from non-blast or blunt force trauma (motor vehicle accident, fall, assault, etc.

Official position of the military TBI task force on the role of neuropsychology and rehabilitation psychology in the evaluation, management, and research of military veterans with traumatic brain injury.

This Position Statement is a summary of the literature and learning regarding current issues raised by the occurrence, treatment, and study of traumatic brain injury in military service members and veterans. The Report has been approved by the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN), Divisions 40 (Neuropsychology) and 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN), with the goal of providing information of relevance on an important public policy matter within their respective areas of expertise. The Report is not intended to establish guidelines or standards for the professional practice of psychology, nor has it been adopted as official policy by the American Psychological Association or any other division or subunit of APA.