Effectiveness of a Treatment for Impairments in Social Cognition and Emotion Regulation (T-ScEmo) After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a multifaceted Treatment for Social cognition and Emotion regulation (T-ScEmo) in patients with a traumatic brain injury. 

Participants: Sixty-one patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury randomly assigned to an experimental T-ScEmo intervention or a Cogniplus control condition. 

Interventions: T-ScEmo is a compensatory strategy training for impairments in emotion recognition, theory of mind, and social behavioral skills. Cogniplus is a computerized cognitive function training. Both interventions were given in 16 to 20 weekly 1-hour sessions. 

Main Measures: Social cognition tests and questionnaires for social behavior (self-and proxy-rated) administered at baseline, immediately posttreatment, and at 3 to 5 months of follow-up. 

Results: Compared with the Cogniplus group, the T-ScEmo group improved significantly on facial affect recognition, theory of mind, proxy-rated empathic behavior, societal participation, and treatment goal attainment, which lasted up to 5 months after treatment. At follow-up, the T-ScEmo group also reported higher quality of life and their life partners rated relationship quality to be higher than the Cogniplus group. 

Conclusion: This study shows that impairments in social cognition can be effectively dealt with by using a comprehensive treatment protocol, leading to improvements in everyday life social functioning.