Soldier Beliefs About the Readiness of Military Personnel With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

This study examined soldier perceptions of military personnel with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). U.S. Army soldiers ( N = 391) read and responded to one of five scenarios involving the evaluation of a hypothetical soldier who returned from combat duty in Afghanistan. In four versions of the scenario the soldier sustained an mTBI, and in one version he sustained no injury. Each mTBI scenario contained different types of medical and mental health symptoms. The results indicated that the soldier was judged lower in readiness and requiring more special accommodations for reintegration when experiencing an mTBI in comparison to the control condition. The different symptoms that occurred in conjunction with the mTBI did not differently affect his evaluation.