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Concussed adolescents face more challenges during managing their recovery than one anticipates. Concussions bring an increased susceptibility to depression and anxiety that is problematic if not detected early through empirically-based assessments that have direct implications on length of recovery. Counselors are essential in the recovery process to provide knowledge and clinical interventions to the client system, including parents. This study sheds light on this "silent injury" to better serve adolescents and their parents who are managing post-concussive symptoms through comprehensive approaches. This study is theoretical and conceptually based on the integration of four theoretical models: Self-Efficacy Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, the Social Cognitive Neuroscience Conceptual model, and the Biopsychosocial Model. This theoretical integration allowed the researcher to examine the overlapping factors to inform theoretical-based hypotheses such as: depression, anxiety, self-efficacy of the adolescent, parent self-efficacy, and premorbid diagnoses. It was hypothesized that an adolescent's self-efficacy and parent's self-efficacy would serve as mediating variables; and an adolescent's premorbid diagnoses would serve as a moderating variable. Findings indicated a statistically significant relationship between depression and length of recovery, suggesting that the more the adolescent is depressed, the longer their length of recovery. Results did not indicate a mediation or moderation effect of both mediators and moderators on anxiety or depression. There are many implications to this study's findings and lack thereof for mental health and school counselors, adolescents, parents, and neuropsychologists. Practitioners can successfully assess for anxiety and depression to decrease these symptoms and shorten length of recovery through building an adolescent's self-efficacy. This study also serves the foundation of research to start building additional studies to ultimately provide an evidence-based practice focusing on concussions and promoting self-efficacy. Currently, cognitive behavioral and behavioral therapy seem to be the prominent choices, and our field is in need of more evidence-based practices. Limitations and statistical analyses are discussed in the dissertation. This study contributes to concussion and practical counseling literature, filling a void that holds promise for future research. |
