THE ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL PROBLEM-SOLVING ABILITY FOLLOWING TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

Objective: To investigate the nature of social problem-solving deficit s following TBI using the D'Zurilla and Goldfried(14) model of social problem solving, which consists of four social problem-solving skills that traditionally have been assessed by self-report inventory. To ove rcome the problems associated with self-report following TBI, the curr ent study developed a video task for the assessment of social problem solving. Design: Cohort study. Participants: The study involved 15 com munity-dwelling individuals with TBI caused by motor vehicle accidents who volunteered to be involved in the study. A matched control sample without psychiatric or neurologic conditions consisted of 15 members of a community group who also volunteered to assist. Main Outcome Meas ures: Two measures were used, the Social Problem-Solving Inventory(17) and a problem-solving video vignette task designed specifically for t he study. Both instruments assessed the components of the model-namely , problem definition and goal formulation, solution generation, decisi on making, and solution implementation and verification. Results: Indi viduals with TBI were impaired relative to the control sample in their ability to recognize and define social problems and to generate a ran ge of solutions. However, these differences emerged only when using th e video task. Correlations between the video task and the self-report scales were nonsignificant for both groups. Conclusions: Current socia l problem-solving training may lack validity due to an inappropriate f ocus on the later stages rather than the early stages of problem solvi ng, when the major deficits following TBI tend to occur. In addition, the difficulties associated with self-report assessment following TBI can be overcome by using the video task.