Perrin, P. 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.

Background and Objective: Research has documented the stigma that individuals with degenerative neurological diseases experience, but caregivers also experience stigma by association (i.e., affiliate stigma). In order to shed light on the stigma of caregivers of people with degenerative neurological diseases, the current study aimed to explore cross-cultural differences in the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) caregiver affiliate stigma, as well as the relationship between PD symptoms and caregiver affiliate stigma. Applications for Alzheimer’s disease are discussed.