Attention capacity limitation, psychiatric parameters and their impact on work involvement following brain injury

A follow-up study conducted among brain-injured patients explored the correlation between attention capacity limitation and psychiatric parameters as well as their impact on work involvement, two years after hospitalization. Capacity limitation was identified as difficulties in dual-task performance which requires simultaneous attention and response to two sources of stimulation. Poor performance on one or both tasks included in the dual-task paradigm (pursuit motor tracking task and a verbal task) was correlated with psychiatric parameters of behavior, personality and thought. This also correlated with the inability reported by the patients to concentrate for long periods of time and to the feeling of fatigue after physical and mental effort. In addition, it was found that dual-task performance correlated with work involvement. It was concluded that there is a reciprocal relationship between the variables studied. Attention capacity limitations are manifested in various psychiatric parameters; conversely, some psychiatric parameters affect the performance on the dual-task. This highlights the difficulty such patients have in coping with work demands and their consequent inability to maintain steady employment.