Implementing Interventions for Women and Youth with Traumatic Brain Injury at Transition from Custodial Settings: A Call to Action.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health concern and overrepresented among justice-involved populations. An emerging area of research focuses on the complex, interrelated and unmet health and social needs of justice-involved women and youth with TBI. Evidence of these needs continues to grow, yet the health and justice systems continue to underperform in supporting the health and social care of justice-involved women and youth.

Prisoner knowledge about head injury is Improved by brief psychoeducation.

Introduction: The high prevalence of head injury (HI) in prisoners and its association with offending indicates a need for interventions. However, there is little evidence and none for the effectiveness of psychoeducation in improving prisoner knowledge about HI and its effects.

Methods: Small groups of males in two Scottish prisons underwent a 1 hour psychoeducation session delivered by PowerPoint and combined with question and answer, video clips and a booklet about HI.

Associations between significant head injury and persisting disability and violent crime in women in prison in Scotland, UK: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The prevalence of head injury is estimated to be as high as 55% in women in prison and might be a risk factor for violent offending, but evidence is equivocal. The extent of persisting disability is unknown, making decisions about service needs difficult. The UN recognises vulnerabilities in women in prison, but does not include head injury.

The association between dual-task walking and counting responses and cognitive function and disability after severe head injury: A preliminary study.

Adverse outcomes after severe head injury (SHI) can be difficult to detect in primary care and other settings where there is not specialist expertise for interpretation. Walking and counting dual-task (DT) measures are strongly associated with cognitive impairment and dementia and this preliminary study investigates whether performance on DT walking and counting tasks are associated with cognitive function and disability in 125 participants who sustained a SHI on average 26 years before. Single Task (ST) walking (speed over 6 metres) and ST counting (Serial 3s) and DT performance of concurrent walking and Serial 3s were compared with neuropsychological, wellbeing and disability tests for strength of association.

In vivo detection of cerebral tau pathology in long-term survivors of traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can trigger progressive neurodegeneration, with tau pathology seen years after a single moderate-severe TBI. Identifying this type of posttraumatic pathology in vivo might help to understand the role of tau pathology in TBI pathophysiology. We used flortaucipir positron emission tomography (PET) to investigate whether tau pathology is present many years after a single TBI in humans.

Prevalence of Head Injury and Associated Disability in Prison Populations: A Systematic Review.

Objective: This review systematically assesses literature on the prevalence of head injury (HI) and associated disability in adults in prison.

Methods: Searches were carried out using electronic databases (PsycINFO, Cochrane Databases, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science). Reference lists of 2 meta-analyses were checked for relevant articles.

Brief compassion focused imagery for treatment of severe head injury.

Objective: To determine whether participants with severe head injury (SHI) allocated to a brief compassion focused imagery (CFI) intervention show greater change in compassion than those exposed to relaxation imagery (RI).

Method: Participants were exposed to a preparatory video to promote engagement and then randomly allocated to intervention. Pre- and post-preparatory measures were Motivation for Intervention and Fears of Compassion Scales, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and PANAS.

Misdiagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder following severe traumatic brain injury.

Background: The incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traumatic brain injury is unclear. One issue involves the validity of diagnosis using self-report questionnaires.

Aims: To compare PTSD'caseness' arising from questionnaire self-report and structured interview.

Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury: A review of causal mechanisms, assessment,and treatment.

In this paper we explore the evidence for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traumatic brain injury (TBI). We examine its possible mediating mechanisms after brain injury, the evidence for its occurrence, risk, and protective factors, and the implications for intervention and service demands. In the first section we review the current literature relevant to cause, maintenance, and treatment of PTSD in general, before addressing issues associated with the assessment and management of PTSD after TBI.