Poster Session 03 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
09:30 am - 10:40 am
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)
Poster Session 03: Neurotrauma | Neurovascular
Final Abstract #65
Degree of Good Old Days Bias in Individuals with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Daniel Schlehofer, Ohio University, Athens, United States
Julie Suhr, Ohio University, Athens, United States
Category: Concussion/Mild TBI (Adult)
Keyword 1: cognitive screening
Keyword 2: concussion/ mild traumatic brain injury
Keyword 3: self-report
Objective:
People who incur mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) sometimes experience cognitive, physical, and psychological symptoms that typically resolve within 3 months; however, a small subset of MTBI patients report symptoms that persist beyond this point. Research has shown that the contributing factors for these persistent symptoms are not typically neurological damage but are more consequences of psychological phenomena. The Good Old Days Bias is one such psychological phenomenon that helps explain persistent symptoms. This occurs when individuals misattribute everyday common experiences as indications of their current injury or illness, viewing these “symptoms” as more severe and frequent than they are. Additionally, because these symptoms are viewed as direct consequences of the MTBI, individuals tend to underestimate how often they experience these current symptoms prior to their MTBI. The purpose of this study is to measure the degree of Good Old Days Bias in individuals with a history of MTBI and discern what psychological factors contribute to these differences.
Participants and Methods:
This study consisted of a sample of undergraduate students with previous history of MTBI (N = 96) and no history of MTBI (N = 195). The mean age of the sample was 20.35 with the majority of participants in their first year of college (62.9%). The vast majority of participants were white (89.7%) and identified as women (73.5%). No significant differences in age, year, gender, or race/ethnicity were found between the MTBI and control groups.
Participants were first tasked to report their demographic, medical, psychological, and head injury history, if applicable. All participants completed measures of individual difference variables theoretically associated with persistent symptom report in those with MTBI, including illness beliefs, suggestibility, intolerance of uncertainty, and degree of identification with one’s memory ability. All participants reported their current post-concussive symptoms. For those who endorsed a previous MTBI, an illness beliefs questionnaire was administered followed by the same post-concussive symptoms measure, except participants were now tasked to report the frequency of post-concussive symptoms prior to their MTBI. The individual difference psychological measures were administered thereafter to all participants.
Results:
Participants with history of MTBI reported significantly fewer premorbid symptoms (M = 60.67, SD = 12.83) than their current/postinjury symptoms (M = 71.5, SD = 17.62) (p < .001) and when compared to the base rate symptoms of the controls (M = 69.91, SD = 18.07) (p < .001). There was no difference between postinjury MTBI symptoms and base rate symptoms. In the MTBI group, higher degrees of Good Old Days Bias were associated with greater illness identity beliefs (p < .05), greater report of psychological consequences related to the MTBI (p < .01), greater cogniphobia (p < .001), greater intolerance of uncertainty (p < .001), and higher levels of personal identification with memory abilities (p < .01).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that the Good Old Days Bias is associated with other psychological processes that might provide greater insight into the potential mechanisms that explain persistent ongoing MTBI symptoms.
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