Caregiving for Individuals with Chronic Illness or Injury

Intensive Cross Cutting Lightning Round

(600994) Unmet Needs and Concerns of Caregivers Following Moderate and Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Presenter(s)

• 

  Natalie Kreitzer, MD

  Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine and Neurocritical Care
  University of Cincinnati
  Cincinnati, Ohio

We enrolled eighteen patient-caregiver dyads after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury in a qualitative exploratory study using semi-structured interviews. Caregivers were interviewed within 72 hours of injury, one month, three months, and six months. When able, we interviewed survivors. Five main themes were identified in the qualitative analysis: finding information about TBI, managing emotions and behaviors, physical care, instrumental care, and caregiver's own emotional and health needs. Experiences varied depending on time since injury, discharge disposition, functional neurologic outcome, caregiver access to resources, and likely multiple other factors.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the literature surrounding the transition of care out of the ICU after moderate and severe traumatic brain injury.
• Summarize previous caregiver based interventions after traumatic brain injury.
• Describe themes of caregiver unmet needs and concerns in the first six months following moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.