Community integration following multidisciplinary rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the extent to which participation in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme and patient characteristics predict improvement in community integration following mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI).


METHODS
A non-randomized case-control study was conducted employing a pre-test-post-test multiple regression design.


METHODS
Archival data for 42 patients with mild-to-moderate TBI who completed the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) at intake and again 6-18 months later were analysed. Half the sample participated in an intensive outpatient rehabilitation programme that provided multi-modal interventions, while the other half received no rehabilitation. The two groups were matched on age, education and time since injury.


RESULTS
On the CIQ Home Integration scale, participation in rehabilitation and female gender predicted better outcome. On the Productivity scale, patients with a lower age at injury had better outcome. Outcome on both of these scales, as well as on the Social Integration scale, was predicted by the baseline pre-test score (initial severity).


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, multidisciplinary rehabilitation appeared to increase personal independence. It is also concluded that: (1) multivariate analysis can reveal the relative importance of multiple predictors of outcome; (2) different predictors may predict different aspects of outcome; and (3) more sensitive and specific outcome measures are needed.
Goranson
Tamara E
TE
Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
Graves
Roger E
RE
Allison
Deborah
D
La Freniere
Ron
R
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D012107:Research Design; D012737:Sex Factors; D012917:Social Adjustment; D016896:Treatment Outcome