Objective: Assessment of emotional functioning is a critical aspect of the clinical neuropsychological evaluation of individuals following mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). The objective of this study was to examine the utility of the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised as a brief tool for assessing psychological and symptomatic distress following MTBI.
Method: A contrasted groups approach, involving three clinical groups (MTBI, Whiplash Associated Disorder, Type I Diabetes) and a non-clinical control group, was used in this study.
Results: The group with MTBI scored significantly higher on the majority of primary symptom dimensions and global distress indices of the SCL-90-R compared to both the diabetes and non-clinical control groups. Analysis of individual cases further revealed that 68.2% of the participants in the group with MTBI were classified as positive cases, a rate significantly higher than that of the diabetes and non-clinical control groups. The group with MTBI did not differ significantly from the group of individuals with whiplash associated disorder with respect to elevation of primary symptom dimensions or global distress indices, or the number of cases classified as positive.
Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the SCL-90-R has considerable utility as a general measure of psychological and symptomatic distress following MTBI.