| Popis: |
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion, is extremely common during childhood with notable peaks of incidence in pre-school children. Despite this, few studies have examined the nature and frequency of post-concussive symptoms (PCS) in children younger than eight. There are additional challenges of PCS assessment in younger children which are yet to be fully considered. In order to address these gaps, the current research adopted a semi-structured interview approach to PCS assessment with the aims of 1) identifying which PCS differentiated children with mTBI from trauma controls in the acute stages of recovery, and whether these differed among pre-school and school-aged children, 2) examining the frequency and nature of PCS and behavioural outcomes, across a three month post-injury period; and 3) investigating the relative influence of child, family, and injury factors on both acute and persistent PCS. Participants were 101 parents of children aged 2 – 12 who presented to a hospital Emergency Department between November 2012 and February 2015, with either mTBI (n = 46) or superficial injury to the body (trauma control (TC), n = 55)). Adopting a prospective longitudinal design, PCS were assessed in the acute stage post-injury ( |
