Assessment of mood after severe acquired brain injury: Interviews with UK clinical psychologists and medical professionals.
Alexandra E Rose, Breda Cullen, Sarah Crawford and 1 others
PMID 39257066WHAT IT FOUND
Clinical psychologists and medical professionals assessing mood after severe brain injury described no agreed method.
They adjusted standardised measures, relied on simple conversation, team and family observations over time, and formulation, and warned that injury symptoms can look like depression.
Key findings
01Clinical psychologists and medical professionals said they adjust standardised mood measures and use them qualitatively rather than as designed, because scores were considered insufficient for people with severe cognitive impairments.
02The described mood assessment relied on collateral information from the multidisciplinary team and family, observations of behaviours and symptoms, and formulation.
03Interviewees said symptoms that may look like depression can arise from brain injury, and they looked for consistent symptoms across settings and over time before concluding a mood disorder was present.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Findings are qualitative themes from professionals' interviews, not evidence that any mood assessment approach improves patient outcomes. The study was conducted and analysed by one person, the interviewer, so the themes reflect her interpretation, although field notes and supervision were used. The paper states 33 clinical psychologists and 16 medical professionals consented, but 23 clinical psychologists and 9 medical professionals were interviewed; the reasons for non-participation are not described. Only 9 medical professionals were interviewed, and they were recruited from survey respondents who had volunteered for interviews, so they may not represent all UK medical professionals working in this area. Other frontline staff who may observe mood, such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists, were not interviewed, although one clinical psychologist commented on them. The prior survey that generated the sample is described as under peer review, so its details are not available in this paper.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Alexandra E. Rose received funding from the Francis and Augustus Newman Foundation as part of her PhD fellowship with the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that any mood assessment method works for patients with severe brain injury. The paper reports professionals' experiences and themes, not patient outcomes or tested interventions.