Communication-specific Coping Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Douglas, Jacinta M. and Friedman, Abby (2006) Communication-specific Coping Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. [Clinical Aphasiology Paper]

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Abstract

Impaired communication is a well-established and enduring consequence of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). As a result, people with severe TBI spend a lot of time attempting to cope with communication breakdown. Coping responses are the cognitive and behavioural efforts we make to moderate the impact of stressful situations. Dispositional coping responses reflect an individual general style of coping and can be used across different types of stressful situations. In contrast, situational coping responses are context-specific strategies that are used in a particular type of stressful situation. Dispositional coping has increasingly been the focus of research in the TBI population and has been found to play a significant role in shaping long-term outcome. While the importance of situation-specific coping has been raised in the literature, communication-specific coping has not been investigated in any depth. This study was undertaken as a preliminary investigation into the relationship between communication-specific coping and social participation. The first aim was to make a comparison between the communication-specific coping strategies used by adults with severe TBI and healthy adults. The second aim was to evaluate the association between coping strategies used and social participation.

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