Ongoing Challenges Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic Among People With Brain Injury.
Jessica Kersey, Amy R McArthur, Joy Hammel
PMID 38414253WHAT IT FOUND
People with chronic traumatic brain injury described social isolation continuing after many pandemic policies had ended.
They feared exposure, avoided unvaccinated people, and had fewer activities. Old strategies did not fit new barriers, and remote social options were hard to manage.
Key findings
01Participants reported social isolation that continued to the focus groups, even after many pandemic policies had ended.
02Efforts to reduce personal risk, including masking, vaccination, and social distancing, enabled some socialization but also contributed to persistent isolation.
03Most strategies participants named were ones they had used before the pandemic, and they identified no strategies for managing online or remote opportunities.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
All participants came from the same community-based program in Chicago, so they may share similar views. The sample had 12 participants, so it cannot show how common these experiences are. Only people who had returned to the program were included, so experiences of people who lost that support may be missing. Participants with severe cognitive or communication impairment that would limit focus group participation were excluded. The study described experiences and barriers. It did not test an intervention or measure outcomes. The area had more severe pandemic mitigation policies than some other regions, so the barriers may differ elsewhere. The first author had an existing relationship with many participants, and all researchers were White female occupational therapists.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that strategy training reduces social isolation after traumatic brain injury. It is a qualitative study of 12 people from the same community program, and it did not test an intervention or measure outcomes.