 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Gale Whiteneck, PhD, Ken Gerhart, MA, and Christopher P. Cusick, BA. Craig Hospital, 3425 S. Clarkson Street, Englewood, CO 80110, (303) 789-8204, gale@craig-hospital.org
While environmental factors are now recognized in all conceptual models of disability as important determinants of participation in society, few studies have examined the role of physical, attitudinal, and policy barriers, particularly after a cognitive disability. In order to determine the types of environmental barriers reported by persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to identify relationships between environmental barriers and such markers of societal participation as employment, community mobility, social integration, and life satisfaction; 73 persons with TBI who were participating in the TBI Model Systems program at Craig Hospital were surveyed at one year post-injury, using a new measure of the environment, the Craig Hospital Inventory of Environmental Factors (CHIEF), which rates frequency and impact of 25 barriers. Transportation, the surroundings, government policies, attitudes, and the natural environment were the environmental barriers with the greatest reported impact. Those persons who were unemployed or not in school at the time of their injury, as well as those who were older and married at injury, reported the most barriers overall. Additionally, those reporting a greater impact from environmental barriers also reported lower levels of participation and life satisfaction. Though environmental barriers impact TBI survivors and play a role in their later outcomes, their interplay with other, perhaps as yet unidentified factors, requires continued research. The CHIEF will be a valuable tool for identifying the environment’s role, and for public planning and intervention.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Traumatic Brain Injury, Environment
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.