Preliminary investigation of longitudinal sociodemographic, injury and psychosocial characteristics in a group of non-English speaking Latinos with brain injury

Primary objective: To describe the sociodemographic and injury characteristics and psychosocial outcomes at 1 and 10 years post-injury in a group of Spanish-speaking individuals with traumatic brain injury. Research design: Descriptive cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of prospectively collected data. Methods and procedures: Assessments were completed on 57 non-English speaking Latinos with TBI, injured between March 1991 and January 2008, who were treated at a Traumatic Brain Injury Model System of Care acute rehabilitation facility. Follow-up data was collected cross-sectionally at 1 year (n41) and 10 years (n23) post-injury. Longitudinal data (both Y1 and Y10) were available for 17 of those individuals. Main outcomes: Post injury employment and residence, Disability Rating Scale, Functional Independence Measure. Results: At 1 year, the majority of participants were unemployed (63.4) and did not require assistance of another individual (58.5) as measured by the DRS Level of Functioning. FIM scores showed that the greatest difficulty was in the area of problem-solving and memory with over half the sample needing assistance in these areas. At 10 years post-injury, 47.8 were unemployed and remained independent of assistance from a caretaker (56.5) as measured by the DRS. FIM results revealed that slightly less than half continued to need assistance in areas of problem-solving and memory. Longitudinal changes were seen in that, over time, individuals reported more difficulties in areas of bathing and dressing, but fewer difficulties in areas including social interaction, comprehension and memory. Conclusions: Non-English-speaking Latinos with brain injury are at a double disadvantage with regard to obtaining much-needed ongoing services, ultimately impacting long-term outcomes post-injury. If such issues are not adequately addressed, as the Latino population continues to grow, disparities in service delivery and unsuccessful outcomes will continue to grow.