TBI-QOL: Development and Calibration of Item Banks to Measure Patient Reported Outcomes Following Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: To use a patient-centered approach or participatory action research design combined with advanced psychometrics to develop a comprehensive patient-reported outcomes (PRO) measurement system specifically for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). This TBI Quality-of-Life (TBI-QOL) measurement system expands the work of other large PRO measurement initiatives, that is, the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System and the Neurology Quality-of-Life measurement initiative.

Setting: Five TBI Model Systems centers across the United States.

Traumatic brain injury and functional outcomes: does minority status matter?

Objectives: (1) to determine differences between minorities vs. non-minorities on demographic, injury and rehabilitation characteristics and functional outcomes at admission, discharge and 1-year post-injury and (2) to examine differences in functional outcome at 1-year post-injury among (African-Americans, Hispanics and Whites).

Design: Retrospective study.

Comparison of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Model Systems national dataset to a population-based cohort of TBI hospitalizations.

Objective: To determine whether severity alone accounts for differences observed between a population-based cohort of acute care hospitalizations for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) national dataset.

Design: Prospective cohort.

Setting: Acute care hospitals in South Carolina and TBIMS rehabilitation centers.

American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine in 2006: embracing the future.

The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) modified its mission and structure in 1997 to become an organization focused on medical rehabilitation research. Initially, this transformation accelerated an already diminishing membership, a weakened financial condition, and some level of dysfunction within the organizational structure. In recent years, with the advent of evidence-based practice and the expectation that empirical research is critical to the survival of clinical specialties such as rehabilitation medicine, ACRM has become re-energized.

Functional outcomes from inpatient rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury: how do Hispanics fare?

Objective: To examine the relation between Hispanic ethnicity and rehabilitation outcome in traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Longitudinal dataset of the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems national database.

A follow-up study of older adults with traumatic brain injury: taking into account decreasing length of stay.

Objective: To examine age-related differences in rehabilitation outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Retrospective collaborative study.

Setting: Patients received acute neurotrauma and inpatient rehabilitation services at 1 of the 17 National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research-designated Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) centers.

Five years after traumatic brain injury: a study of individual outcomes and predictors of change in function.

Objective: Study functional changes between one and five years after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Design: Prospective cohort.

Setting And Participants: TBI Model Systems National Database subjects using cohort with complete one and five year data (n = 301).

Race and productivity outcome after traumatic brain injury: influence of confounding factors.

Objective: Investigate the impact of race on productivity outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and evaluate the influence of confounding factors on this relationship.

Design: Inception cohort of 1083 adults with TBI for whom 1-year productivity follow-up data were available.

Results: Univariable logistic regression indicated that race was a significant predictor of productivity outcome after TBI.

Measurement of quality of life in rehabilitation medicine: emerging issues.

The articles in the current supplement (Part II) present emerging issues in the measurement of quality of life (QOL). The articles were prepared based on presentations at a meeting held in November 2001. Part I (December 2002) provided important background information, definitions, and approaches that have been used in various rehabilitation populations.

Etiology of traumatic brain injury: characterization of differential outcomes up to 1 year postinjury.

Objective: To characterize outcomes after traumatic brain injury (TBI) resulting from vehicular crashes, violence, falls, or other causes.

Design: Prospective, multicenter, longitudinal.

Setting: Seventeen Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems.

Violent traumatic brain injury: occurrence, patient characteristics, and risk factors from the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems project.

Objectives: To examine the occurrence of and characteristics associated with violent traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) project for 4 of the 5 original Model Systems centers and to determine the patient characteristics of this group, as well as the risk factors for sustaining such an injury.

Design: Prospective evaluation of individuals with violent TBI over a 10-year period.

Setting: Four TBIMS centers.

Depression after traumatic brain injury: a National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research Model Systems multicenter investigation.

Objective: To identify the frequency and manifestations of depression after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the factors that contribute to developing this mood disorder.

Design: A prospective, nationwide, multicenter study; 17 centers supplied data from medical records and patient responses on a standardized criterion instrument.

Setting: Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems programs.

Predictors of caregiver burden following traumatic brain injury.

Primary Objective: To investigate the relationship of demographic characteristics of the caregiver (i.e. race, age, household income, education) to caregiver burden, family needs, family functioning and social support to assess the predictors of caregiver burden.

Quality of life measurement in rehabilitation medicine: building an agenda for the future.

In November 2001, a conference convened to discuss the state of the science of measuring of quality of life (QOL) in rehabilitation medicine. The meeting brought together leading researchers in areas of behavioral health and physical medicine and rehabilitation to address the fragmentation that exists across specialty areas and disciplines. The goal was to bridge terminology, techniques, and advances across the fields of behavioral and rehabilitation medicine.

Telerehabilitation needs: a survey of persons with acquired brain injury.

Objective: To survey individuals with acquired brain injury to assess multiple facets of interest, access, and familiarity necessary to implement new telerehabilitation technologies.

Design: Anonymous mail survey.

Setting: Community.

Early cognitive status and productivity outcome after traumatic brain injury: findings from the TBI model systems.

Objective: To evaluate the contribution of early cognitive assessment to the prediction of productivity outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) adjusted for severity of injury, demographic factors, and preinjury employment status.

Design: Inception cohort.

Setting: Six inpatient brain injury rehabilitation programs.

Outcome related electrophysiological subtypes of cocaine dependence.

We previously described the existence of two quantitative EEG (QEEG) subtypes of cocaine dependent males, identified at baseline, displaying differential proneness to relapse. The current study expands the population to include females and enhances the measure set to include both QEEG and somatosensory EP (SEP) features. Fifty-seven cocaine dependent adults (16 F, 41 M) were evaluated 5-14 days after last cocaine use, while in residence at a drug-free therapeutic community.