McKee, G. B.

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a serious public health concern. Family members are often caregivers for children with TBI, which can result in a significant strain on familial relationships. Research is needed to examine aspects of family functioning in the context of recovery post-TBI, especially in Latin America, where cultural norms may reinforce caregiving by family members, but where resources for these caregivers may be scarce.

Impact and Implications: The current study highlights the importance of screening for suicidal ideation for both individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their caregivers, as findings suggest that thoughts of death and/or suicide are relatively common among both patients and caregivers up to a year post-injury. Moreover, patient suicidal ideation at hospitalization is predictive of reported caregiver suicidal ideation at later time points.