Traumatic brain injury, psychiatric diagnoses, and suicide risk among Veterans seeking services related to homelessness.

OBJECTIVES

To explore the differences in negative psychiatric outcomes (i.e. type and number of psychiatric diagnoses, suicide risk) among Veterans with and without a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) seeking homeless services.

METHODS

Observational design with data collected at one time-point. Veterans seeking homeless services from two Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Centres completed study measures (n = 309; 282 with a history of TBI and 27 without a history of TBI). Veterans participated in structured clinical interviews regarding psychiatric and TBI histories.

RESULTS

Those with a history of TBI met the criteria for significantly more psychiatric diagnoses (p = 0.0003), and were more likely to be at risk for suicide (p = 0.007) than those without a history of TBI.

CONCLUSIONS

Even among the high-risk cohort of homeless Veterans, those with a history of TBI were found to be at even greater risk for negative psychiatric outcomes. Further research is required to determine if and how the history of TBI contributes to the inability to maintain stable housing. Moreover, the findings highlight both the importance of assessing for history of TBI among this cohort, and educating providers regarding how to address the needs related to injury sequelae.