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Background: Previous research has found racial and ethnic disparities in life satisfaction, depression, and anxiety after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, limited studies have examined differences in these variables between U.S.- and foreign-born individuals with TBI. The purpose of this study was to examine whether differences exist in mental health outcomes between U.S.- and foreign-born individuals with TBI at 1, 2, 5, and 10 years after injury, as well as examine whether demographic and injury-related characteristics account for these differences. Method: Participants were 8289 individuals with TBI who identified as U.S.-born and 944 who identified as born outside the U.S. in the TBI Model Systems study. Participants completed measures of mental health outcomes at 1, 2, 5, and 10 years after injury. Results: Foreign-born individuals with TBI had comparable levels of depression and anxiety trajectories to U.S.-born individuals, yet higher life satisfaction trajectories, even after controlling for demographic and injury-related variables. Conclusion: Rehabilitation professionals should consider in their clinical work the mechanisms that likely influence mental health outcomes among foreign-born individuals, including family-based values that increase resilience, as well as the possible under-reporting of mental health symptoms along the lines of cultural norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous literature has documented racial/ethnic differences in traumatic brain injury (TBI) risk, cause, treatment, and rehabilitation. The purpose of the current study was to investigate potential racial/ethnic differences in arrest probability trajectories over the first 10 years after TBI and whether injury and sociodemographic characteristics accounted for these differences. Methods: The current study included 13,195 participants with moderate-to-severe TBI in the TBI Model Systems National Database who had arrest data from at least one follow-up time point (Years 1, 2, 5, and/or 10). A series of hierarchical linear models assessed racial/ethnic differences in trajectories of arrest probability over these 10 years post-injury and then included socio-demographic and injury-related covariates. Results: White individuals with TBI had lower arrest probability trajectories than Black and Native American individuals, and Asian individuals with TBI had lower arrest probability trajectories than White, Black, Latinx, and Native American persons. In many cases, racial/ethnic disparities persisted even when injury and sociodemographic characteristics were covaried. Conclusion: These results suggest that rehabilitation clinicians should assess for post-injury arrest risk factors such as age, sex, education, pre-injury unemployment, arrest history, and substance abuse, particularly in Black, Latinx, and Native American groups, and integrate programming to lessen post-injury arrest probability and improve overall rehabilitation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Psychometric network analysis provides a novel statistical approach allowing researchers to model clusters of related symptoms as a dynamic system. This study applied network analysis to investigate the patterns of somatic, cognitive, and affective neurobehavioral symptoms in an international sample of Spanish-speaking individuals with a history of COVID-19 positivity and non-COVID controls; (2) methods: the sample (n = 1093) included 650 adults from 26 countries who reported having previously tested positive for COVID-19 (COVID+) through a viral and/or antigen test (average of 147 days since diagnosis). The control group (COVID-) was comprised of 443 adults from 20 countries who had completed the survey prior to the COVID-19 pandemic; (3) results: relative to the COVID- network, the COVID+ network was very well-connected, such that each neurobehavioral symptom was positively connected to the network. The organize-to-headache and dizzy-to-balance connections in the COVID+ network were stronger than in the COVID- network. The hearing, numbness, and tense symptoms were more central to the COVID+ network with the latter connected to the sleep, fatigue, and frustrated symptoms. The COVID- network was largely disjointed, with most of the somatosensory symptoms forming their own cluster with no connections to other symptom groups and fatigue not being connected to any other symptom. The cognitive and affective symptoms in the COVID- network were also largely connected to symptoms from within their own groups; (4) conclusions: These findings suggest that many of the long-term neurobehavioral symptoms of COVID-19 form a discernable network and that headaches, frustration, hearing problems, forgetfulness, and tension are the most central symptoms. Cognitive and behavioral rehabilitation strategies targeting these central symptom network features may hold promise to help fracture the lingering symptom network of COVID-19.