Abstract
Primary objective : Because neurobehavioral changes occur in most patients with traumatic brain injury, family caregivers suffer from psychological distress such as depression and anxiety. The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of interventional programs to reduce the psychological distress of family caregivers of persons with traumatic brain injury.
Result : The interventional program was conducted over five meetings which were held for four hours and took place once a week, involving a total of 16 persons. The interventional program mainly consisted of providing basic knowledge of traumatic brain injury, ways of treating cognitive dysfunction and training of communication skills applying assertiveness training. Evaluation criteria were GHQ-30, SDS, STAI and RAS as assessment measures and were analyzed before and after the intervention and at three month and six month follow-ups after the interventional program. A considerable reduction of the mean score was statistically recognized in comparison of SDS at pre-intervention and after the six month follow-up and STAI (state anxiety) at pre-intervention and post-intervention in the analysis of variance of pre-and post-intervention and follow-ups.
Conclusions : The result of this study suggests that the interventional program is effective in reducing psychological distress of family caregivers of person with traumatic brain injury.
