부산대학교 도서관

Objectives: To study the positive changes which are called the different states of posttraumatic growth (PTG) in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients after injury. Because of the mixed results of past studies, the objective of this study is to propose brain-based and quantifiable executive function (EF) to investigate how each aspect of EF can affect the PTG factors that are present in TBI patients. Methods: A total of 67 TBI patients who are one year after injury were enrolled from a medical center in Tainan City after they signed an informed consent: 61.2% of the patients are male, 79.1% are mild TBI, average age is 34.2 years (± 12.7), and the average post-injury time is 24.5 months (± 3.9). Four factors were obtained by using the self-edited PTG scale after conducting for expert validity, internal consistency test (α = .93) and factor analysis (69.39%). After taking EF tests (including inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility), they were divided into preferred groups (percentile rank score of 60 or above) and less preferred groups (percentile rank score of 40 or below) according to the results, to which an independent samples t-test was carried out to examine the differences between the two groups in terms of different PTG factors (including new possibility, active power, resources power, and mind power). Results: In terms of inhibition, auditory working memory, and cognitive flexibility, the preferred group had higher scores in new possibility. In terms of inhibition, the preferred group also had higher scores in active power. EFs had no effect on resources power and mind power. Conclusions: Inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and auditory working memory can have great effects on the condition of PTG factors that are present in chronic TBI patients, and may affect the new possibility of PTG mostly. Especially the better control of inhibition would affect the active power of PTG. Accordingly, it is feasible to promote PTG by enhancing the EFs of TBI patients. These results can be contributed to build the future basis of neuropsychological therapy.