Memory deficit after traumatic brain injury: how big is the problem in New Zealand and what management strategies are available?
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) impacts a significant portion of individuals, and can have lasting consequences. One of the most common and persistent difficulties experienced post-TBI is deficits in memory, which impact up to 80% of TBI survivors. Early memory rehabilitation research concentrated on the direct retraining approach. In recent years, the focus of rehabilitative efforts has shifted to teaching compensatory strategies and optimizing residual abilities, with the most recent efforts focussing on group-format rehabilitation and integration of technologies (e.g. cellular phones) as a means of compensation. This review examines the evidence for these various approaches to memory rehabilitation, concluding that there remains a need for full scale randomised clinical trials to determine their efficacy in improving independence.
Barker-Collo
Suzanne
S
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. s.barker-collo@auckland.ac.nz
Feigin
Valery L
VL
D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors