Poster Session 05 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes
Final Abstract #12
Neuropsychological Factors Related to Warfighter Performance
Jason Bailie, TBICoE, Camp Pendleton, United States
Andrew Darr, TBICoE, Camp Pendleton, United States
Areg Mehrabian, TBICoE, Camp Pendleton, United States
Juan Lopez, TBICoE, Camp Pendleton, United States
Melissa Caswell, TBICoE, Camp Pendleton, United States
Angela Basham, TBICoE, Camp Pendleton, United States
Ida Babakhanyan, TBICoE, Camp Pendleton, United States
Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Adult)
Keyword 1: vocation
Keyword 2: traumatic brain injury
Keyword 3: concussion/ mild traumatic brain injury
Objective:
well, a portion of service members (SM) have persistent neurological and emotional complaints following a mTBI. A history of mTBI is also associated with an increased risk for medical separation from the military. Neuropsychological evaluations are often used in the decisions about fitness for duty for SM with a history of mTBI. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between independent ratings of SMs warfighter performance and various neuropsychological measures.
Participants and Methods:
Participants were active duty SMs recruited from a military treatment facility. Participants had at least one diagnosed mTBI with persistent cognitive complaints. A total of 52 SMs were included in this analysis. They were on average 33.6 years old (SD = 7.4) with an average of 4.5 mTBI’s (SD = 2.6) and 3.9 deployments (SD = 3.0). Warfighter performance was measured by the Checklist of Military Activities of Daily Living (M-ADL) which was completed by a direct supervisor of the SM. The M-ADL includes 15 military-related tasks. Each item is rated on a Likert scale from “1: Unsatisfactory” to “5: Excellent” and rated by the supervisor for applicability to the SM job. Cognitive measures included: Test of Premorbid Function (TOPF); Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised Total Recall (HVLT-TR) and Delayed Recall (HVLT-DR); Delis Kaplan Executive Functioning System Color Word Conditions 1-4 and Trail Making (TM) Conditions 1-4, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), and the Symbol Digit Modality Test (SDMT). Self-reported questionnaires included: Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI), PTSD Checklist-5 (PCL-5), Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI),
Results:
There were no significant Pearson correlations between the 14 cognitive measures and m-ADL ratings (p’s > .05). The only meaningful correlations with m-ADL and cognition were TM Condition 4 (r = -.201, p = .154) and the HVLT-R Recognition Index (r = -.213, p = .130). Of the four self-report questionnaires, there were no significant or meaningful correlations observed on total scores. Analysis of the subscales of the 8 KBCI scales did reveal a significant correlation between m-ADL and the KBCI Communication Scale (r= -.357, p = .009).
Conclusions:
This exploratory analysis showed that there were minimal relationships between a warfighters cognitive and psychological performance and their direct supervisors rating of performance on the job. Small correlations were observed with patients self-reported problems with communication which may speak to the importance of healthy communication and supervisors perception of employees. Warfighter performance was based on supervisors’ ratings which may have limitations. Further investigations are required to examine the relationship between neuropsychological measures and direct measures of warfighter performance (e.g., marksmanship, decision making, medical separation).
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