• Kelly M Jones, Rob Kydd, Elizabeth Broadbent, Alice Theadom, Suzanne Barker-Collo, Holly Edwards, Valery L Feigin, and BIONIC Study Group.
• a Faculty of Health and Environmental Studies, National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences, , Auckland University of Technology , Auckland , New Zealand.
• Psychol Health. 2016 Oct 1; 31 (10): 1182-202.

ObjectiveIndividuals' illness perceptions predict health behaviours and influence functional outcomes. This study examined associations between a novel assessment of illness perceptions, in the form of adult's brain drawings after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and questionnaire measures of illness perceptions, quality of life and post-concussive symptoms.DesignPopulation-based, prospective longitudinal study examining 245 adults with predominantly mild TBI with high risk of complications.Main Outcome MeasuresParticipants were asked to draw pictures of what they thought their brain looked like before injury and at baseline and one month post-injury. Drawing characteristics (height, width and percentage damage at one month) were examined in relation to each outcome of interest at six months.ResultsGreater damage at one month was associated with more negative illness perceptions (rs = .23), poorer mental health (rs = -.21), and more total post-concussive symptoms (rs = .27 to r = .35) at six months. The extent of damage depicted reduced over time (p < .001). No associations were found between the amount of damage drawn and injury severity, nor the height or width of drawings and injury severity or illness perceptions.ConclusionDrawings post-TBI offer a simple, cost- and time-effective way to begin discussions and improve understanding of peoples' illness perceptions.

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