Delivering Virtual Group Interventions for Youth With Persisting Symptoms After Concussion (Move&Connect-Youth) and Their Caregivers (Move&Connect-Caregivers): Fidelity and Engagement Evaluation.

This paper reports fidelity and engagement, not clinical outcome results, so it cannot tell whether the interventions improved concussion symptoms, function, mental health, or family well-being. It is a pilot evaluation with small numbers, so the findings are descriptive and may not generalise. Satisfaction and interview findings come mainly from participants who completed follow-up, and interviews were optional, so they may over-represent more engaged participants. The observer-rated engagement measure was developed by the team and not validated, and sessions were not recorded, so ratings may be biased. Most participants were White, from high-income households, recruited from a hospital-based concussion clinic, and many identified as girls or women, so experiences of boys and men, lower-income families, rural families, and diverse backgrounds may be missing. Youth and caregivers from the same family participated, which can make observations nonindependent. Excluding youth with mobility devices, autism or intellectual disability, functional neurological disorder, or acute psychiatric hospitalisation limits applicability to some patients. Because the youth program included psychoeducation, exercise, and goal setting together, and the caregiver program included psychoeducation, activities, and reflections together, the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.

Funding came from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (#463185), the Holland Family Professorship in Acquired Brain Injury, and Dr. Peter Rumney supported open access costs. HAH received graduate funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not read this as evidence that virtual group rehabilitation improves symptoms or recovery. The youth program included psychoeducation, exercise, and goal setting together, and clinical outcome results were not reported here.