The Psychological Impact of Injuries Sustained in Motor Vehicle Crashes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis is an article written by various authors who used meta- analysis to research the mental effects that motor crashes victims undergo after sustaining injuries from the accidents. The authors of this article are Ashley Craig, Yvonne Tran, Rebecca Guest, Bamini Gopinath , Jagnoor Jagnoor, Richard A Bryant, Alex Cooley, Robyn Tate, Justin Kenardy, James W Middleton, and Ian Cameron who worked together to document this insightful and informative. The article analysis the types of injuries that people suffer in the crashes, the effect it has on their psychology and how the effects can be managed.
This journal article tries to explore what the car crash victims go through psychologically after getting involved in accidents. Due to the injuries experienced by the motor vehicle crash, the authors of this article found the need to analyze the mental impact that these victims experience. Motorcar crashes are the leading cause of deaths in many countries. Despite many road safety rules being formulated, many drivers do not follow them, therefore, leading to road accidents. Road safety has been a major problem worldwide. The leading cause of these crashes is ignorance of the road safety rules. The article analyzes the several injuries that are experienced in car crashes which include, burns, amputations, severe head and spine injury which affect the victims.
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This article used the method of meta- analysis to find the impact of motor vehicle crashes on the victims. Meta- analysis is where a person conducting the research derives his/her results by using multiple studies. This research was conducted by selecting 2537 articles which were narrowed down to 24 that studied 4502 victims of car crashes who were adults of 18 years and above (Craig et al., 2016). The victims were analyzed for mild to severe injuries and results were tabled. The research involved analyzing the injured people for any psychological impact that they might have got after suffering injuries from car crashes. It was evident that psychological distress was a guaranteed impact of motor vehicle crashes and therefore, there emerged the need to address the issue. If the psychological impact of motor vehicle crashes was not addressed, these victims slowly get into mental depression. Therefore, the study encourages the need to help these victims get through the distress.
The study found out that motor vehicle victims slowly drift into depression (Craig et al., 2016). They experience certain mental disorders such as phobia of driving, stress, and depression. The lack of funds to cater for the costs of managing these effects also leads to psychological depression. Costs of management and treating the injuries of the car crash get high and the victims suffer mentally. The study involved adults of 18 years and above who have suffered injuries from motor vehicle crashes. The victims were analyzed for injuries resulting from the crashes and the mental impact the injuries have subjected them to. This study is reliable because several authors were involved in conducting it. All the results were analyzed, and there was minimal criticism from the authors.
The authors’ ideas about the psychological impact of motor vehicle crashes are valid because the injuries suffered after accidents are likely to change the lives of these victims permanently. For example, if the victim’s legs and arms are amputated, this injured person will have to look for money to have plastics arms fixed. The costs of such medical operations are high which is likely to lead the victim to depression. The costs of rehabilitation and treating these injuries make these people suffer psychologically. If the effects of the motor vehicle crashes are not managed early, it often leads to permanent disorder.
The results of the study showed that 78% of motor vehicle victims suffered Traumatic Brain Injury due to these crashes (Craig et al., 2016). This means that a large number of all the brain injuries reported result from motor vehicle crashes. Whether the brain injury is mild or severe, the study finds that they all lead to psychological disorder. Spinal cord injuries were also reported to be one of the injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes. The car crashes caused the largest percent of spinal cord injuries while falls followed at a far distance. Other causes of spinal cord injury were reported to be sporting activities, falls, and assaults (Craig et al., 2016). The study found out that mental disorder was dominant in the individuals with spinal cord injury than those who did not have the injury. The level of injury did not have any impact on the mental disorder of the victims (Craig et al., 2016).
This report found out that if the right support is offered to these victims, then the chances of getting into depression are minimized. This shows that these people get into mental depression just because they do not get the right kind of support and counseling. The injured people are also encouraged to join the efforts of fighting the mental depression by self- management. The society is also educated on how to offer support to the injured people and they are warned against mocking them as this may lead them to depression. Despite this report having been researched well, I find some results of the study not true. One of the results of the meta- analysis is that the extent of the mental disorder does not vary with the severity of the injuries suffered. In my opinion, a person who has suffered a mild brain or spinal cord injury will have less psychological depression than that whose injury is severe. The study did not analyze how the injuries changed the lives of those injured.
Some of the limitations that the authors encountered include having limited studies to refer to because this kind of study has not been explored before. The other limitation was that the few number of related reports limited further analyses to the matter. The authors would have wanted to explore further details such as compensation after the crashes, the age of the victim at the time of injury and whether they were able to go back to work. The other limitation that the authors encountered is that the use of large numbers of the injured persons led to less accurate results unlike if they could have a small group. The operational terms that were used by the authors such as post-concussive syndrome, PTSD symptoms, and Traumatic Brain Injury had exaggerated definitions. The authors experienced to get the psychological effects of the motor vehicle crashes.
In my opinion, this report was done well. This is because the authors of this article took the time to conduct research by analyzing people who have injuries from the motor vehicle injuries. This article is relevant to the society because it helps both the affected and those who are not affected. The victims of motor vehicle crashes are given support so as to avoid psychological depression. It is also relevant to the non- injured because they are advised on how to take care of the injured to reduce the mental impact of these injuries. This article has helped me want to help those who are injured in motor vehicle crashes to manage the psychological depression. It also encourages the reader to be more careful on the road to avoid motor vehicle crashes which may lead to severe damage.
This article explains that it is necessary for victims to be assessed for psychological disorder after a motor vehicle crash. This is because studies have shown that all victims of motor vehicle crash suffer psychological disorder after suffering the injuries. The types of injuries suffered by these people include traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. It is important for these victims to be analyzed for any psychological disorder so that they may be given the right help. If the impacts of the injuries are not addressed early enough, it often leads to a mental disorder which is difficult to reverse. One of the reasons why people suffer depression after suffering injuries after motor vehicle crashes is because they are worried about what the society will say. The society is known to judge people on many factors which include the appearance of a person. For example, if a person suffers burns from the crash, his skin may change its appearance. Therefore, the society is encouraged to offer support and not mock these victims.
References
Craig, A., Tran, Y., Guest, R., Gopinath, B., Jagnoor, J., & Bryant, R. et al. (2016). Psychological impact of injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open , 6 (9), e011993. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011993
