We recommend the use of ABS as a routine assessment in early rehabilitation of patients with TBI.
BackgroundAcquiring a traumatic injury constitutes a severe life change for the survivor, but also for the surrounding family. The paradigm of helping the family has primarily been on psychosocial interventions targeting caregivers. However, interventions including both survivor and caregivers should be an essential part of treatment, as the whole family’s functional level and mental health can be affected. The current study protocol presents a manualized family intervention for families living with traumatic injury to the brain (TBI) or spinal cord (tSCI). The objectives are to investigate if the intervention improves quality of life (QoL) and decreases burden. It is hypothesized that the family intervention improves problem-solving strategies and family dynamics, which will reduce the burden. This may improve the caregivers’ mental health, which will improve the support to the survivor and QoL.MethodsThe study is an interventional, two-arm, randomized controlled trial. During a 2-year period, a total of 132 families will be included. Participants will be recruited from East-Denmark. Inclusion criteria are (1) TBI or tSCI, (2) ≥ 18 years of age, (3) ≥ 6 months to ≤ 2 years since discharge from hospital, (4) ability to understand and read Danish, (5) cognitive abilities that enable participation, and (6) a minimum of one family member actively involved in the survivor’s life. Exclusion criteria are (1) active substance abuse, (2) aphasia, (3) prior neurologic or psychiatric diagnose, and (4) history of violence. Within each disease group, families will be allocated randomly to participate in an intervention or a control group with a ratio 1:1. The intervention groups receive the family intervention consisting of eight sessions of 90 min duration. Families in the control groups receive 2 h of psychoeducation. All participants complete questionnaires on QoL, self-perceived burden, family dynamics, problem-solving strategies, mental health, and resilience at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 6-month follow up.ConclusionIf the intervention is found to have effect, the study will contribute with novel knowledge on the use of a manual-based intervention including the entire family. This would be of clinical interest and would help families living with the consequences of TBI or tSCI.Trials registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03814876. Retrospectively registered on 24 January 2019.
(1) Background: Acquired brain injury (ABI) or spinal cord injury (SCI) constitutes a severe life change for the entire family, often resulting in decreased quality of life (QoL) and increased caregiver burden. The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a family intervention in individuals with ABI or SCI and in their family members. (2) Methods: An RCT of a family intervention group (FIG) vs. a psychoeducational group (PEG) (ratio 1:1) was performed. The FIG received an eight-week manual-based family intervention, and the PEG received one psychoeducational session. Self-reported questionnaires on QoL with the Mental Component Summary (MCS) and on caregiver burden with the Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS) were the primary outcomes. The data analysis involved linear mixed-effects regression models. (3) Results: In total, 74 participants were allocated randomly to the FIG and 84 were allocated randomly to the PEG. The FIG had significantly larger improvements on the MCS and significantly larger reductions on the CBS at the two-month follow-up than participants in the PEG (mean differences of 5.64 points on the MCS and −0.26 points on the CBS). At the eight-month follow-up, the between-group difference remained significant (mean difference of 4.59 points) on the MCS, whereas that on the CBS was borderline significant (mean change of −0.14 points). (4) Conclusions: Family intervention was superior to psychoeducation, with larger improvements in QoL and larger reductions in caregiver burden.
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