Measuring Posttraumatic Growth in Caregiving Family of Acquired Brain Injury Survivors: A New Scale

This study proposes to develop and evaluate a new rehabilitation outcome measure, the Posttraumatic Growth Scale in Caregiving Families of Persons with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). This self-administered clinical and research tool is intended to fill a gap in the assessment of family caregivers of adults with ABI by measuring the psychosocial and behavioral functioning of the caregivers. This proposal has been developed specifically in response to the NIDILRR’s long range plan to enhance the ability for people with disabilities to achieve their maximum desired community living and social participation. Caregivers’ emotional and family functioning have been found to impact greatly on social participation after post-acute rehabilitation for persons with ABI. Literature has focused primarily on the burden of caregiving and how it is often accompanied by high levels of stress for both individuals with ABI and their family members. However, the caregiver’s ability to respond positively to their new dual role of being both a family member and caregiver has been associated with improved social participation for the patient and quality of life in both the patient and the caregiver. Developing an instrument that measures the caregivers’ positive responses to the impact of a brain injury on the ABI survivor and the family unit can enable clinicians to track the psychological effects of the brain injury on the caregiving family over time and identify ways to helpfully intervene. The development of this instrument will be based on our previous work that resulted in the creation of an instrument that measures personal growth in caregiving partners of persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). For this proposed study, a sample will be recruited in collaboration with the Brain Injury Association of New York State. The psychometric properties of the newly developed instrument will be measured and evaluated with respect to the instrument previously developed for partners of persons with MS. The ultimate goals of this proposal are to better quantify and understand the experiences of family caregivers of persons with ABI, promote and guide the care provided by the family caregivers, and thereby increase the social participation of the individuals with ABI. Following the establishment of this instrument, a subsequent goal is to promote its use as an assessment tool in future longitudinal rehabilitation outcome studies and in different settings for both rehabilitation services and community support programs.<br> <b>Descriptors:</b> Acquired brain injury, family caregivers, posttraumatic growth @font-face {font-family:"MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-alt:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 134217746 0 131231 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}@font-face {font-family:"\@MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 134217746 0 131231 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:11.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}<br>