The BETTER Traumatic Brain Injury Transitional Care Intervention: A Feasibility Study.
Tolu O Oyesanya, Callan Loflin, HyunBin You and 10 others
PMID 37542381WHAT IT FOUND
Occupational therapists delivering a transitional care program to TBI patients and families found it feasible and acceptable.
Physical quality of life improved, but overall and mental quality of life did not change. These results support testing the program in a larger randomized trial.
Key findings
01Recruiting and enrolling 15 patient-caregiver dyads from a trauma center was feasible, though only 18.7% of eligible patients were approached.
02Patients' physical quality of life scores improved over time, but overall and mental quality of life scores did not change.
03Participants rated the intervention as acceptable, with all respondents finding study materials helpful and mean ratings for the overall experience very high.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Single-arm design with no control group, so improvements cannot be attributed to the intervention rather than natural recovery. Small sample size (N=31), which limits statistical power and generalizability. Single-center study in the Southeastern U.S., which may not reflect other populations or healthcare systems. Only English-speaking participants were included, limiting cultural generalizability. Low response rates on the acceptability scale, particularly from patients. Data collection was burdensome, with increasing call attempts needed over time.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The study was supported by non-U.S. government and NIH extramural funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the improvement in physical quality of life as proof the intervention works. This was a single-arm study with no control group, so the change may reflect natural recovery or regression to the mean. The primary outcomes of overall and mental quality of life did not improve.