Sex differences in response to emotion recognition training after traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Objective: To examine sex differences in the effectiveness of a Stories intervention for teaching affect recognition in people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Setting: Post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

Participants: 203 participants (53 women and 150 men) with moderate to severe TBI were screened. 71 were eligible and randomized to one of three treatment conditions: two affect recognition conditions and an active control (cognition). This paper examines sex differences between the Stories intervention (n = 23, 5 women and 18 men) and the cognitive treatment control (n = 24, 8 women and 16 men).

Design: Randomized controlled trial with immediate, 3- and 6-month follow-up post-tests. Interventions were 9 hours of computer-based training with a therapist.

Measures: Facial Affect Recognition (DANVA2-AF); Emotional Inference from Stories Test (EIST).

Results: A significant treatment effect was observed for the Stories intervention for women, who demonstrated and maintained improved facial affect recognition. In contrast, males in our sample did not benefit from the Stories intervention.

Conclusion: This positive finding for the Stories intervention for females contrasts with our conclusions in a previous paper, where an analysis collapsed across sex did not reveal an overall effectiveness of the Stories intervention. This intervention warrants further research and development.