Team-based rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury: a qualitative synthesis of evidence of experiences of the rehabilitation process.
Maria Larsson-Lund, Agneta Pettersson, Thomas Strandberg
PMID 35019996WHAT IT FOUND
People with traumatic brain injury described team-based rehabilitation as poorly coordinated and not tailored enough, especially when moving from hospital to home and after formal services ended.
They said close persons and timely, individual support mattered.
Key findings
01Participants in all included studies said access to team-based rehabilitation was insufficient, especially when it was not individually tailored and coordinated across recovery phases.
02Participants described insufficient transition planning and coordination between hospital and home, which left them feeling in a service gap and abandoned.
03Participants said close persons provided practical help with daily activities and contacts with authorities, and that rehabilitation should involve them throughout recovery.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The confidence in most subcategory findings was low or moderate. The authors downgraded confidence mainly because the data came from few studies with few participants. Most participants were of working age, so the findings may not transfer well to older people with TBI. Women were in the minority (38%), and sex differences were not a focus. Few participants had experienced team-based rehabilitation after discharge, because access after hospital was limited. The synthesis included only injured persons' experiences, not close persons' perspectives. Studies of single professions, specific components, or other brain injuries were excluded, so it is not a review of those services. Only English and Scandinavian peer-reviewed articles were included.
Declared interests
This was part of a governmental health technology assessment commissioned by the Swedish agency for health technology assessment and assessment of social services (SBU). No author conflict-of-interest declaration is included in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that team-based rehabilitation improves outcomes. They describe participants' experiences and access, not tested effects.