1. Long-term maintenance of gains obtained in postacute rehabilitation by persons with traumatic brain injury.
- Author
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Sander AM, Roebuck TM, Struchen MA, Sherer M, and High WM Jr
- Subjects
- Adult, Brain Injuries psychology, Chronic Disease, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Glasgow Coma Scale, Humans, Individuality, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mississippi, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Recovery of Function, Rehabilitation methods, Rehabilitation Centers trends, Texas, Time Factors, Brain Injuries rehabilitation, Disability Evaluation, Social Adjustment
- Abstract
Objective: To investigate maintenance of gains after discharge from a postacute rehabilitation program., Design: Longitudinal cohort study, with inclusion based on availability of subjects at three time points., Setting: Comprehensive postacute rehabilitation program in the Southern United States., Participants: Thirty-four persons with medically documented complicated mild to severe traumatic brain injury; primarily male Caucasians with some college., Main Outcome Measures: Disability Rating Scale and the Community Integration Questionnaire completed at admission, discharge, and two follow-up time points., Results: Repeated measures analyses, using time from injury to discharge as a covariate, revealed significant improvements on all measures from admission to discharge, with no significant change from discharge to either of the follow-up periods. However, substantial changes were noted in individual cases., Conclusions: The results indicate that gains made by persons with traumatic brain injury during postacute rehabilitation are generally maintained at long-term follow-up, but changes occur in individual cases. Long-term services may help prevent decline in individual cases.
- Published
- 2001
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