Prevalence and characteristics of neuropsychiatric symptoms, quality of life and psychotropics in people with acquired brain injury in long‐term care

Abstract

AimEstablishing the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), quality of life and psychotropic drug use in people aged ≤65 years with acquired brain injury in nursing homes.DesignCross‐sectional, observational study among patients aged 18–≤65 years with acquired brain injury admitted to special care units in Dutch nursing homes.MethodsAccording to the Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects in January 2017 this study did not require ethics approval. Nursing homes will be recruited through the national acquired brain injury expertise network for patients with severe brain injury, the regional brain injury teams and by searching the internet. Patient characteristics will be collected through digital questionnaires. Neuropsychiatric symptoms will be assessed with the NeuroPsychiatric Inventory‐Nursing Home version, the Cohen–Mansfield Agitation Inventory and the St. Andrews Sexual Behaviour Assessment; cognition with the Mini‐Mental State Examination, quality of life with the Quality of Life after Brain Injury Overall Scale and activities of daily living with the Disability Rating Scale. Medication will be retrieved from the electronic prescription system. Data collection commenced in 2017 and will be followed by data analysis in 2019. Reporting will be completed in 2020.DiscussionLittle is known about NPS among patients with acquired brain injury in nursing homes. In patients up to the age of 65 years, only six studies were found on prevalence rates of NPS.ImpactPatients with severe acquired brain injury experience lifelong consequences, that have a high impact on them and their environment. Although there is increasing attention for the survival of this vulnerable group of patients, it is also important to enlarge awareness on long‐term consequences, specifically the NPS, quality of life and psychotropic drug use in acquired brain injury. Insight into the magnitude of these issues is necessary to achieve appropriate care for these patients.

The prevalence and determinants of inappropriate sexual behaviour in people with acquired brain injury in nursing homes

“…The CABINET study is a cross-sectional, observational study among people with chronic ABI ≤65 years in Dutch nursing homes (Kohnen et al, 2019(Kohnen et al, , 2020.…”

“…Recruited nursing homes have been visited by the first author and the research assistant for conducting the data collection between June 2017 and April 2019 as published in this journal (Kohnen et al,2019(Kohnen et al, , 2020. Professional care in the Netherlands is provided in more than 480 long-term care organizations spread throughout the country ("CBS [Statistics Netherlands]," 2016).…”

“…To enhance logistical efficiency, nursing homes with ABI special care units for at least 10 patients with ABI were identified, contacted and recruited through (1) the national expertise network for patients with severe ABI (EENnacoma, 2017), (2) the regional brain injury teams (3) and the websites of nursing homes. In the Netherlands, 17 regional brain injury teams throughout the country provide information and advice about ABI to patients, family members and professional caregivers (Hersenletselteams [Brain Injury Teams]; Kohnen et al, 2019;Kohnen et al, 2020). Nursing homes that have participated in previous prevalence studies of our research group were contacted and recruited as well (van Erp et al, 2015;Kohnen et al, 2013Kohnen et al, , 2020Lavrijsen et al, 2005).…”

“…In our recent systematic review, we found six studies about challenging behaviours in patients below the age of 65 years with ABI in long-term care (Kohnen et al, 2018(Kohnen et al, , 2020. As part of the Chronic Acquired Brain Injury Netherlands (CABINET) study, we did a survey of 118 patients ≤65 years of age from 12 nursing homes (Kohnen et al, 2019(Kohnen et al, , 2020.…”

“…Identifying relevant determinants of ISB is important because challenging behaviours, such as ISB, hinder the provision of quality care (Kivunja et al, 2018). Insight into the determinants of ISB could give direction to the kind of appropriate interventions that is needed, for example, the treatment of concurrent challenging behaviours or fulfilling sexual needs (Kohnen et al, 2019). However, the prevalence concurrent challenging behaviours, sexuality and quality of life could give direction to the kind of interventions and education that is needed.…”