Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Associations Between Traumatic Brain Injury, Suspected Psychiatric Conditions, and Unemployment in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans.

Pogoda TK, Stolzmann KL, Iverson KM, Baker E, Krengel M, Lew HL, Amara JH, Meterko M. Associations Between Traumatic Brain Injury, Suspected Psychiatric Conditions, and Unemployment in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans. The Journal of head trauma rehabilitation. 2016 May 1; 31(3):191-203.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relations among demographic characteristics, traumatic brain injury (TBI) history, suspected psychiatric conditions, current neurobehavioral health symptoms, and employment status in Veterans evaluated for TBI in the Department of Veterans Affairs. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional database review of comprehensive TBI evaluations documented between October 2007 and June 2009. PARTICIPANTS: Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom Veterans (n = 11 683) who completed a comprehensive TBI evaluation. MAIN MEASURES: Veterans Affairs clinicians use the comprehensive TBI evaluations to obtain information about TBI-related experiences, current neurobehavioral symptoms, and to identify suspected psychiatric conditions. RESULTS: Approximately one-third of Veterans in this sample were unemployed, and of these, the majority were looking for work. After simultaneously adjusting for health and deployment-related variables, significant factors associated with unemployment included one or more suspected psychiatric conditions (eg, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression), neurobehavioral symptom severity (ie, affective, cognitive, vestibular), former active duty status, injury etiology, age, lower education, and marital status. The associations of these factors with employment status varied by deployment-related TBI severity. CONCLUSIONS: Simultaneously addressing health-related, educational, and/or vocational needs may fill a critical gap for helping Veterans readjust to civilian life and achieve their academic and vocational potential.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.