Longitudinal Growth Curve Trajectories of Family Dynamics after Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury in Mexico

Grace B. McKee, Laiene Olabarrieta-Landa, Paula K. Pérez-Delgadillo, Ricardo Valdivia-Tangarife, Teresita Villaseñor-Cabrera, Daniela Ramos-Usuga, Paul B. Perrin and Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla
Additional contact information
Grace B. McKee: Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment, Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), Central Virginia Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Richmond, VA 23249, USA
Laiene Olabarrieta-Landa: Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Pública de Navarra, 31006 Pamplona, Spain
Paula K. Pérez-Delgadillo: Rusk Rehabilitation at New York University Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA
Ricardo Valdivia-Tangarife: University Center of Health Sciences, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara 44160, Mexico
Teresita Villaseñor-Cabrera: Hospital Civil Fray Antonio Alcalde, Guadalajara 44280, Mexico
Daniela Ramos-Usuga: Biomedical Research Doctorate Program, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 48940 Leioa, Spain
Paul B. Perrin: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA
Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla: BioCruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, 48903 Barakaldo, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-12

Abstract: Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a serious public health concern. Family members are often caregivers for children with TBI, which can result in a significant strain on familial relationships. Research is needed to examine aspects of family functioning in the context of recovery post-TBI, especially in Latin America, where cultural norms may reinforce caregiving by family members, but where resources for these caregivers may be scarce. This study examined caregiver-reported family satisfaction, communication, cohesion, and flexibility at three time points in the year post-injury for 46 families of a child with TBI in comparison to healthy control families. Families experiencing pediatric TBI were recruited from a large hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico, while healthy controls were recruited from a local educational center. Results from multilevel growth curve models demonstrated that caregivers of children with a TBI reported significantly worse family functioning than controls at each assessment. Families experiencing pediatric TBI were unable to attain the level of functioning of controls during the time span studied, suggesting that these families are likely to experience long-term disruptions in family functioning. The current study highlights the need for family-level intervention programs to target functioning for families affected by pediatric TBI who are at risk for difficulties within a rehabilitation context.

Keywords: traumatic brain injury (TBI); pediatric TBI; family functioning; family caregivers; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8508/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8508/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8508-:d:446255

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().