Preliminary efficacy of a Web-based family problem-solving treatment program for adolescents with traumatic brain injury.

Objective: Preliminary report of the efficacy of a Web-based treatment program to improve adolescent and family psychosocial functioning following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Participants: Families of 9 adolescents with TBI (2 severe and 7 moderate) injured less than 24 months ago participated in this study.

Intervention: A Web-based family treatment program designed to enhance family problem solving and adjustment, as well as reduce adolescent behavioral and social problems that are common sequelae of moderate-to-severe TBI was used as intervention.

Brief report: Description of feasibility and satisfaction findings from an innovative online family problem-solving intervention for adolescents following traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To describe feasibility and satisfaction findings from an innovative online family problem-solving intervention for adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods: Nine adolescents who sustained a moderate to severe TBI in the previous 24 months and their families participated in a novel, online, manualized treatment program (Teen Online Problem Solving, TOPS) consisting of 10 web-based sessions providing information and interactive exercises on cognitive, social, and behavioral skills typically affected by TBI. Web-based sessions were followed by synchronous video conferences with a therapist to review target skills and apply the problem-solving process to family goals.

Lessons learned: the effect of prior technology use on Web-based interventions.

This study examined the role of regular prior technology use in treatment response to an online family problem-solving (OFPS) intervention and an Internet resource intervention (IRI) for pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants were 150 individuals in 40 families of children with TBI randomly assigned to OFPS intervention or an IRI. All families received free computers and Internet access to TBI resources.

Can devices facilitate a hypnotic induction?

Historically, many devices were believed to have the ability to facilitate a hypnotic induction, but in time such devices proved to have no inherent facilitating properties other than a general placebo effect. To test the efficacy of a device called a "plasma ball" that may facilitate an induction by combining two sensory modalities simultaneously (visual and auditory), 42 college students who scored 6 and below on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) and completed a scale rating the realness of items, were selected for a second session. Participants were matched on hypnotizability scores and randomly assigned to experimental or standard eye fixation induction control condition.