Date Presented 04/05/2025
This study examines how self-regulation relates to activity reengagement among individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Poor self-regulation correlates with lower reengagement and mediates personal factors and reengagement, highlighting its importance for therapy.
Primary Author and Speaker: Amanda Gahlot
Contributing Authors: Yael Goverover
PURPOSE: While self-regulation impairments are common after TBI (Winter et al., 2018), little is known of how self-regulation may impact re-engagement in meaningful activities (Nalder et al, 2019), which may be crucial in understanding the heterogeneity in outcomes after TBI (Hammond et al, 2021). Therefore, this study examines the relationship between self-regulatory processes and activity re-engagement for individuals with moderate to severe TBI. The study addresses the following questions: what is the relationship between self-regulation and activity re-engagement, and how does self-regulation mediate the relationship between personal abilities (i.e. physical and cognitive abilities and environmental supports) and activity re-engagement?
DESIGN: Cross-sectional, quasi-experimental study included 47 community-dwelling adults with moderate to severe TBI more than 6 months post injury.
METHOD: Participants completed the TBI-QOL and Social Provisions Scale questionnaires to measure personal factors (i.e., physical, emotional, and cognitive health and social support), the Frontal System Behavioral Scale to measure self-regulation, and the Electronic Activity Card Sort to measure activity re-engagement (Boone et al., 2022). Interviews were completed virtually.
RESULTS: Better self-regulation was significantly correlated and was a significant predictor of higher activity re-engagement. Further, self-regulation mediated the relationship between personal factors and activity re-engagement.
CONCLUSIONS: Self-regulation may be a critical factor in understanding an individual’s success in re-engaging in meaningful activities after TBI in its chronic stages. Occupational therapists should consider addressing self-regulatory processes as a way to enhance activity re-engagement in the context of TBI.
References
Winter, L., Moriarty, H., & Short, T. (2018). Beyond anger: emotion regulation and social connectedness in veterans with traumatic brain injury. Brain Inj, 32(5), 593–599. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2018.1432895
Nalder, E., Hartman, L., Hunt, A., & King, G. (2019). Traumatic brain injury resiliency model: A conceptual model to guide rehabilitation research and practice. Disabil Rehabil, 41(22), 2708–2717. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2018.1474495
Hammond, F., Perkins, S., Corrigan, J., Nakase-Richardson, R., Brown, A., O’Neil-Pirozzi, T., Zasler, N., & Greenwald, B. (2021). Functional change from five to fifteen years after traumatic brain injury. J Neurotrauma, 38(7), 858–869. https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2020.7287
Boone, A. E., Wolf, T. J., & Baum, C. M. (2022). Development and initial testing of the electronic Activity Card Sort (ACS3) among community-dwelling adults. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(3). https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2022.047522
