Measurement in a Peripatetic Community-based Head Injury Rehabilitation Service

Abstract

A brief contextual outline of a small joint-funded peripatetic head injury team is described. The measurement needs of the service are listed and their relationship to outcome measures discussed. A number of potential measures are reviewed and discarded on grounds of over-specificity , inapplicability in community settings, inadequate scope, impracticability , and having insufficient published information available about them A trial of a goal-based framework is described and the practical difficulties associated with implementin g such a system are explored.

The efficacy of community-based rehabilitation programmes for adults with TBI

“…The use of self-identifi ed goals may not stand up to rigorous statistical scrutiny, but the clinical signifi cance of clients meeting their rehabilitation goals should be recognized. Individualized goal setting is congruent with the philosophy of clientcentred rehabilitation, but caution must be exercised when working with clients who have impaired selfawareness (Malec, 1999;Russell and Powell, 1999;Liu et al, 2004) as they may set unrealistic rehabilitation goals. The frustration associated with unattainable goal setting could have a detrimental effect on clients' adherence to treatment programmes (Levack et al, 2006).…”