A Comparison of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Quality of Life in Patients following TBI and Healthy Controls

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury is a debilitating neurological condition and is a leading cause of death and lifelong disabilities. It has adverse consequences in behaviour, cognitive, emotional and social domains. The current study aimed to investigate difficulties in emotion regulation and quality of life in patients with traumatic brain injury and healthy controls. Forty individuals following TBI (M= 35, SD=10.8) and forty healthy participants (M= 31.5, SD =30) were recruited. Patients sustaining TBI were selected from private and public sector hospitals in Peshawar, while the control sample was invited from the community. To measure emotion dysregulation and quality of life in both groups, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation scale (DERS) and WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQoL-BREF) scales were administered. The data were analysed using an independent sample t-test. The result demonstrated a significant difference between the TBI and control population in all six subscales and total scores of DERS. The findings further revealed that patients following traumatic brain injury experienced an overall lower quality of life and also showed low scores in all four domains as compared to their healthy counterparts. The findings have important implications in a clinical setting by suggesting the need for a comprehensive approach to cater for the needs of TBI survivors as well as to address emotional difficulties and consequently improve the quality of life of Pakistani individuals sustaining brain injury.