Objective: Individuals' illness perceptions predict health behaviours and influence functional outcomes. This study examined associations between a novel assessment of illness perceptions, in the form of adult's brain drawings after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and questionnaire measures of illness perceptions, quality of life and post-concussive symptoms.
Design: Population-based, prospective longitudinal study examining 245 adults with predominantly mild TBI with high risk of complications.
Main outcome measures: Participants were asked to draw pictures of what they thought their brain looked like before injury and at baseline and one month post-injury. Drawing characteristics (height, width and percentage damage at one month) were examined in relation to each outcome of interest at six months.
Results: Greater damage at one month was associated with more negative illness perceptions (rs = .23), poorer mental health (rs = -.21), and more total post-concussive symptoms (rs = .27 to r = .35) at six months. The extent of damage depicted reduced over time (p < .001). No associations were found between the amount of damage drawn and injury severity, nor the height or width of drawings and injury severity or illness perceptions.
Conclusion: Drawings post-TBI offer a simple, cost- and time-effective way to begin discussions and improve understanding of peoples' illness perceptions.
Keywords: BIONIC, Brain Injury Incidence and Outcomes New Zealand in the Community; BIPQ, Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire; GCS, Glasgow Coma Score; M, Mean; PCS, Post-Concussive Symptoms; QoL, Quality of Life; RPQ, Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire; SD, Standard Deviation; SPSS, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences; TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury; drawings; illness perceptions; post-concussion symptoms; quality of life; traumatic brain injury.