Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Psychology (Ph.D.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Mark Terjesen

Second Advisor

Marlene Sotelo-Dynega

Third Advisor

Robin Wellington

Abstract

The largest rise in traumatic brain injury (TBI) has occurred in adolescents ages ten to fourteen with a 143% increase followed by adolescents ages fifteen to nineteen with an 87% increase (Maier, 2016). School psychologists have a responsibility to continuously identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities to ensure they receive timely interventions (Wright & Wright, 2007). As such, teachers and school psychologists may be among the first to recognize or regrettably not recognize symptoms of TBI. Therefore, it is important to better understand what teachers and school psychologists actually do know about TBIs and what misperceptions they may have. Having a good measure of knowledge of TBIs is important because professionals can use this information to improve educator and school psychologist’s knowledge of TBIs, as well as use this information to guide changes in what is taught in graduate training programs. The purpose of this investigation was to develop a scale to measure school-based professional’s knowledge of TBIs in the areas of symptoms, treatment, and long-term characteristics of TBIs. Overall, school-based professionals lack knowledge of TBIs across all domains. Although the predictors of TBI knowledge varied, it is possible that the lack of knowledge of TBIs may be due to the lack of research publications in the field, as well as the lack of graduate and post-graduate training opportunities on TBI. To enhance knowledge of TBIs, participants should increase their training on TBIs and learn where to incorporate didactic and experiential learning opportunities to promote knowledge and skills in this area.

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