It has been well documented that providing informal care for a person with a traumatic brain injury can be burdensome. The goal of this research was to discover the effects of two stressors, severity of daily hassles and distress caused by the behavioral problems exhibited by the person with the brain injury, and two supports, social support and income, on the caregiver burden and quality of life felt by caregivers.Data were collected using questionnaires sent via postal mail to members of the Brain Injury Associations of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. Each packet contained a demographic questionnaire, the Social Provisions Scale, the Head Injury Behavior Scale, the Daily Hassles Scale, the Caregiver Burden Scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Ninety-one respondents returned usable protocols. Hierarchical regressions were utilized to analyze the data.When controlling for demographic variables, stressors were found to account for a statistically significant proportion of the variance in subjective caregiver burden but not in satisfaction with life. When controlling for both demographic variables and stressors, supports were not found to significantly predict either subjective burden or satisfaction with life. Upon further investigation, it was found that behavioral distress was most predictive of caregiver burden and the severity of daily hassles was the next most predictive variable of burden.This research was limited by the Midwest location of the participants and their lack of ethnic and gender diversity. Additionally, each respondent had access to support groups and they all had time to fill out the questionnaires. It is likely the case that many caregivers do not have this kind of support or the time to complete unnecessary paperwork. Finally, all of the factors affecting burden and quality of life for caregivers could not possibly be accounted for. Future research should account for a more diverse group of caregivers and assess some of the less frequently researched predictors. Scales more specific to caring for a person with a brain injury could be developed and utilized to explore sources of satisfaction for caregivers. Finally, more attention could be paid to the overall quality of life of caregivers. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

published_or_final_version / abstract / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The current project applied a new theoretically-driven training paradigm shown to be effective at improving memory performance in a group of aging adults (Jennings & Jacoby, 2003) to a group of 10 individuals with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). Training effects were assessed on the paradigm itself and other measures of memory and attention. Performance on cognitive measures was compared to a group of 9 healthy, young adults to control for practice effects. Results showed a replication of previous findings in terms of both frequency and magnitude of improvement in this new population. Some proximal effects of training were found on a similarly-structured task (false fame) but no distal effects of training were seen on other cognitive measures. Limitations of the current project included small sample sizes. Recommendations are provided for future research. Implications for a dual-process model of memory and clinical practice are discussed.

No description available.

Hypothermia is commonly found in injured victims who suffer from central nervous system injury, hypovolemic shock, exposure to environment, administration of anesthetic drugs and cold intravenous fluid. All these factors decrease the abilities of trauma victims to maintain normothermia and conserve body heat. Hypothermia in injured victim is a significant contributor to a well known cycle—triad of death and associated with increased mortality, morbidity and length of hospital stay. Hypothermia is one of the preventable complications in trauma patients. Therefore nurse plays a vital role to evaluate the methods of preventing hypothermia. However, there is no systematic review of effectiveness of different warming methods in local setting. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop an evidence-based guideline to prevent hypothermia in trauma patients by reviewing existing evidence, to assess the feasibility and transferability of implementing the guideline and to develop its implementation and evaluation plan. Five articles meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria are identified after a systematic research of six electronic databases. Among these articles, four of them are randomized controlled trials while the remaining one is quasi-experimental design with prospective randomized assignment. The quality of these identified articles is evaluated with the methodology checklist for randomized controlled trials which is developed by Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN). All studies of medium and high quality would be considered as sufficient evidence to support the proposed innovation in preventing hypothermia for trauma patients in Accident & Emergency Department. After assessing the implementation potential, an evidence-based guideline in preventing hypothermia for adult trauma patients is established. The proposed innovation is necessary and beneficial for adult trauma patients to prevent hypothermia. The grade of recommendation in the guideline is rated based on the SIGN grading system from A to D. Communication plans with stakeholders and 3-month pilot study on 20 patients are conducted before implementing the innovation into clinical setting. Evaluation is made to assess the effectiveness of the proposed guideline after the end of pilot study and the end of implementation of guideline. The effectiveness of the proposed innovation is determined by change of core temperature as + 1.1 °C/hr and at least 90% reduction in shivering and thermal discomfort which are reported in the reviewed articles. The guideline is considered as clinical effective when similar outcome is obtained. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing in Advanced Practice

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

The main purpose of the present study was to identify sensory-motor deficits caused by closed head injury (CHI) when individuals with CHI are compared to a normal sample. The study also investigated lower-level sensory-motor functioning, such as gait, balance, and coordination and its relation to neurological impairment related to CHI. Additionally, the study determined if age significantly influenced sensory-motor functioning.Archival data was utilized to complete the study. Data was collected from a large, Midwestern neurology clinic (CHI) as well as from a normative sample of individuals with no reported history of neurological impairment. Preliminary analyses were completed to identify outliers. Samples were then randomly selected from the impaired group (CHI) and matched with randomly selected subjects from the normative sample based upon age.Three separate analyses were completed. The first analysis focused on age and if age significantly influences sensory motor functioning. The second analysis was completed using an adult's only sample based upon the results that age significantly influenced sensory-motor performance. Finally, the third analysis utilized all age groups to determine how dramatically age had an impact on distinguishing between individuals with CHI versus a normative sample.Results demonstrated that age had a significant influence on sensory-motor performance. Measures of subcortical and cortical motor function, motor speed, motor coordination and tactile examination were able to accurately classify individuals with head injury from a normative sample to a clinically significant degree (78%). The study argues that the D-WSMB is a reliable and valid measure to utilize when evaluating individuals with CHI. / Department of Educational Psychology