Caregiver burden at 1 year following severe traumatic brain injury

Sixty-nine primary caregivers of adults with a severe traumatic brain injur y (TBI) were assessed at 1-year post-injury. Caregivers completed questionn aires on the physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioural, and social functi oning of the person with TBI. Caregiver objective burden, psychosocial func tioning and subjective burden were also assessed. Clinically significant le vels of anxiety and depression were evident in over a third of the caregive rs. Similarly, a quarter of the caregivers reported poor social adjustment. There was no consistent relationship between the prevalence of various typ es of objective burden and the level of subjective distress that resulted f rom these changes. The person with TBI's emotional difficulties, in particu lar their anger, apathy, and dependency, caused the greatest distress for c aregivers. With regard to the impact that caregiving had on their own lives , caregivers were most distressed by the loss of personal free time. Result s from a regression analysis indicated that the person with TBI's physical impairment, number of behavioural problems, and social isolation were the s trongest predictors of caregiver burden. The impact that caring for a perso n with severe TBI can have on the extended family unit is discussed.