Resilience and well-being after traumatic brain injury

Purpose:This study examined the extent to which resilience is associated with well-being outcomes after traumatic brain injury, and whether those relationships are independent of global personality traits, such as affectivity. Materials and methods:Sixty-seven adults with complicated-mild to severe traumatic brain injury participated. Measures included the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Modified Cumulative Illness Rating Scale, Disability Rating Scale, SF-12 Health Survey, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Community Integration Measure. Results:Objective physical health and disability showed modest relation to resilience, indicating that adverse health conditions and disability decreased with increasing resilience. The three measures of subjective well-being showed modest-to-strong positive relation to resilience. These correlations between resilience and well-being generally remained significant after accounting for negative and positive affectivity. Results also suggest that the influence of resilience on well-being has a threshold effect: a greater influence on outcome among people with low or inadequate resilience than among people with average or high resilience. Conclusion:The experience of brain injury does not diminish the positive influence resilience may have on long-term well-being. Resilience may function as a buffer to trauma even in the challenging context of cognitive insult. Routine assessment of resilience might be beneficial to the rehabilitation team.