Impact of religious attendance on psychosocial outcomes for individuals with traumatic brain injury: A NIDILRR funded TBI Model Systems study.

OBJECTIVES: To (1) identify demographic characteristics of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) who attend religious services, (2) understand the relationship between attending religious services and psychosocial outcomes and (3) examine the independent contribution of religious service attendance to psychosocial outcomes while controlling for demographic characteristics, functional status and geographic location at 1, 5 and 10-years post injury.

DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional cohort study using secondary data analysis of the TBI Model Systems (TBIMS) National Database (NDB).

PARTICIPANTS: TBIMS NDB participants who completed 1, 5 or 10-year follow-up interview with data on religious attendance. A total of 5573 interviews were analysed.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Satisfaction with Life scale (SWLS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools-Objective Social sub-scale.

RESULTS: Approximately half of the sample was attending religious services at each time point. Attendance was a significant protective factor for each outcome across all three-time periods. After controlling for demographic characteristics, functional status and geographic makeup, religious attendance contributed a small but significant amount of unique variance in all models except for GAD-7 at years 1 and 10.

DISCUSSION: This study highlights the benefits of religious attendance on psychosocial outcomes post-TBI. Implications for rehabilitation are discussed.