Relationship of family functioning to progress in a post-acute rehabilitation programme following traumatic brain injury

Primary objective: To investigate the relationship of family functioning to patients' progress in a post-acute TBI rehabilitation programme. Research design: Cohort study investigating predictors of change from admission to follow-up. Methods and procedures: Caregivers of 37 persons with severe TBI consecutively admitted to a residential post-acute rehabilitation facility completed the Family Assessment Device (FAD) within a few weeks of admission. The Disability Rating Scale (DRS) was completed upon admission and similar to1 month after discharge. FAD scores were used to predict DRS change scores after controlling for injury severity, admit FAD scores, and time from admission to follow-up. Main outcomes and results: Persons with unhealthy family functioning showed less improvement on DRS total, level of functioning (LOF), and employability (EMP) scores. Conclusions: The results emphasize that family functioning is an important variable to include in future models predicting rehabilitation outcome, and the importance of family intervention as part of the rehabilitation process.