Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects 1.4 million Americans annually and mild TBI (MTBI) accounts for approximately 75% of those injured. For those with mild injury that seek treatment in an emergency department, there is inconsistency in the management and follow-up recommendations. Approximately 38% of patients treated in the emergency department for MTBI are discharged with no recommendations for follow-up. Persons with MTBI are for the most part managing their concussion symptoms on their own. It is unknown how well they self-manage their symptoms, and currently there are no measures useful for evaluating self-management with this population. This study explores the use of a revised measure of symptom self-management with the MTBI population. This revised measure of self-management for TBI showed good internal consistency, represented symptoms commonly reported by persons with MTBI, and was rated as easy to use.