Effectiveness of Communication-specific Coping Intervention for adults with traumatic brain injury: preliminary results

Abstract

People with traumatic brain injury (TBI) describe everyday interactions as a long-term challenge frequently associated with ongoing stress. Communication-specific Coping Intervention (CommCope-I) is a new treatment developed to target coping in the context of communication breakdown. The intervention incorporates principles of cognitive behavioural therapy, self-coaching and context-sensitive social communication therapy. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of CommCope-I in a group of adults with severe TBI and ongoing functional communication difficulties. Participants were 13 adults with severe TBI (GCS = 3-8; mean age = 35.2 years; mean time post-injury = 7.6 years). The project involved three phases: (1) Control/pre-intervention wait phase (multiple assessments), (2) Treatment (6 weeks), and (3) Follow-up (12 weeks). Repeated measures ANOVA with planned pairwise comparisons were used to test the significance of change. Intervention elicited statistically significant improvements in communication-specific coping, functional communication and stress that were maintained for three months. Improved use of communication-specific coping strategies was evident in clinician blind ratings. Clients reported significant reduction in stress at the end of treatment and one and three months later. This intervention provides a promising means of improving communication-specific coping and reducing communication dysfunction and its negative consequences for people with TBI.

The speech, language and communication needs of rough sleepers in London

“…For Cohort 3 who had been identified as having ABI, the SLCN data were completed by the first author as part of her routine work with CHAIN before beginning the study, and here information was much more complete at 75% of participants. This may not only reflect the clinical training of this author, but also because people in this cohort had been identified with ABI, which is in turn associated with higher risk of SLCN (Douglas et al 2019). The prevalence of SLCN found in this study amongst Cohort 2 (‘205’ status) is unexpected because it is in line with that of Cohort 1.…”

Interaction of discourse processing impairments, communicative participation, and verbal executive functions in people with chronic traumatic brain injury

“…Various studies highlight that IwTB have long-lasting cognitive-linguistic difficulties, frequently resulting in a breakdown of interpersonal communication in various everyday situations (Douglas et al, 2019). The studies of Douglas et al (2015), but also of Struchen et al (2008), were able to demonstrate the usefulness of the LCQ for the assessment of communicative participation deficits in IwTBI.…”

Self‐efficacy and coping style in Iraq and Afghanistan‐era veterans with and without mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder

“…There is a dearth of research, however, on self‐efficacy and coping style in the context of comorbid mTBI history and PTSD, and no known studies have examined these constructs within combat‐exposed Veterans with this comorbidity. Notably, however, both self‐efficacy and coping style have been shown to be alterable, or malleable, traits (Anson & Ponsford, 2006; Boden et al, 2014; Douglas et al, 2019; Tyrrell et al, 2019; Wolf et al, 2018) and thus may be important treatment targets.…”