Service needs and neurobehavioral functioning following traumatic brain injury in U.S. military personnel

The purpose of this study was to (a) identify the prevalence and barriers of self-reported service needs in a military sample with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI), (b) evaluate the influence of the number of service needs on overall neurobehavioral functioning, and (c) examine the longitudinal trajectories of service needs over time.

Participants were 941 U.S. service members and veterans (SMVs) prospectively enrolled into four groups: uncomplicated mild TBI (MTBI; n = 455); complicated mild, moderate, severe, and penetrating TBI combined (STBI; n = 164); injured controls (IC, n = 138); and noninjured controls (NIC, n = 184). Participants completed a battery of neurobehavioral measures, as well as a self-reported service need interview, 12 or more month's postinjury. In addition, a longitudinal cohort (n = 553) was included using a subset of participants who had completed two or more evaluations.

When examining the total number of self-reported service needs, there was a greater proportion of the MTBI and STBI groups that had a higher number of service needs compared to the NIC and IC groups (p < .001). In the MTBI and STBI groups, as the number of service needs increased, worse scores were found on all neurobehavioral measures. In the longitudinal cohort, the STBI group reported the highest number of service needs that persisted or developed over time (six needs), followed by the MTBI (three needs), IC (one need), and NIC (zero need) groups.

These findings call for the need to enhance the provision of information given to service members and veterans following TBI regarding available services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).