Mindfulness

, Volume 8, Issue 6, pp 1594–1602 | Cite as

Trait Mindfulness Is Associated with Lower Post-Injury Psychological Symptoms Following a Mild Head Injury

  • John E. Krzeczkowski
  • Sean A. Robb
  • Dawn E. Good
ORIGINAL PAPER
First Online:

Abstract

Up to 25% of individuals that experience a mild head injury (MHI) suffer from long-term psychological and cognitive symptoms. Currently, there is a lack of evidence regarding potential modifiable protective factors that could decrease the risk and severity of long-term MHI sequelae. Therefore, we investigated whether trait mindfulness was associated with fewer clinically relevant psychological and neurocognitive symptoms in individuals following a mild head injury. A quasi-experimental study design with university students (n = 63) was conducted to examine associations between self-reported facets of mindfulness and psychological, post-concussive, and neurocognitive symptoms in a MHI and a no-MHI cohort. In both MHI and no-MHI cohorts, greater mindfulness tendencies were associated with significantly fewer psychological and post-concussive symptoms. Further, the odds of reporting clinically relevant depression scores were significantly lower as a function of greater mindfulness skills. However, neurocognitive outcomes were not associated with any mindfulness facets. These results indicate that mindfulness traits could promote skill sets necessary to circumvent psychological and post-concussive symptoms following a MHI. Due to the increased risk of a myriad of potential adverse outcomes following MHI, more research should be directed towards interventions designed to increase mindfulness in those suffering from persistent symptoms and those at an increased risk of sustaining a MHI.

Keywords

Mild head injury Concussion Mindfulness Five facet mindfulness questionnaire Depression 
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Notes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

Funding for this study were provided by Brock University Faculty Funds.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All study procedures were approved by the Brock University Research Ethics Board (REB no. 13-310).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • John E. Krzeczkowski
    • 1
    • 2
  • Sean A. Robb
    • 3
  • Dawn E. Good
    • 2
    • 3
  1. 1.McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study (MiNDS) ProgramMcMaster UniversityHamiltonCanada
  2. 2.Centre for NeuroscienceBrock UniversitySt. CatharinesCanada
  3. 3.Department of PsychologyBrock UniversitySt. CatharinesCanada

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