Examining the contribution of social communication abilities and affective/behavioral functioning to social integration outcomes for adults with traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To evaluate the contribution of social communication abilities and affective/behavioral functioning to social integration outcomes for persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Participants: A total of 184 adults with TBI (72.8% men) evaluated at least 6 months postdischarge from acute care or inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and after living at least 3 months in the community postdischarge (Mean = 7.84 months postinjury).

Measures: La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ), Assessment of Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills(AIPSS), Affective Behavioral subscale From the Problem Checklist of the Head Injury Family Interview (AB-HIFI), Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique-Short Form Social Integration subscale (CHART-SF-SI), Community Integration Questionnaire Social Integration subscale (CIQ-SI).

Results: Social communication measures (LCQ, AIPSS) and self-reported behavioral functioning (AB-HIFI) contributed significantly to concurrently measured social integration outcomes after controlling for demographic and injury-related variables. Separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that social communication and behavioral variables accounted for 11.3% of variance in CIQ-SI and 16.3% of variance in CHART-SF-SI.

Conclusions: Social communication abilities and affective/behavioral functioning make a substantial contribution to social integration outcomes after TBI. The implications of such evidence for clinical assessment and intervention are discussed.