Traumatic Brain Injury Group Project

This project focuses on developing a group program to help youth with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) overcome challenges related to independent living, social isolation, and occupational difficulties. It includes detailed session plans, evaluation strategies, and a rationale for the chosen intervention approaches.

GROUP WORK PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Hypothetical occupational challenges.........................................................................................1
Areas of further information required.........................................................................................2
Methods of gathering further information...................................................................................3
Synthesized hypothetical information, hypothetical assessment findings and assumptions
made............................................................................................................................................3
Group approaches and related intervention strategies identified and rationale for selection
provided.......................................................................................................................................4
Short-term goals and objectives..................................................................................................5
Full program overview................................................................................................................5
Evaluation strategy......................................................................................................................6
Session 1......................................................................................................................................6
Session 2......................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Traumatic brain injury can be understood as when an external force hurt the human brain.
This injury can severely impact an individual and may lead to permanent or temporary
impairment in them. A person suffering from TBI faces many problems related to their living
skills, it hampers their occupational growth. Traumatic Brain injury prevalence in youth varied
between 12 to 82%. It severely impacts their daily activities and causes a negative changes in
their personality which affects occupational life of youth (Wilson et.al. (2017). The symptoms
seen in this disorder are fatigue and isolation. In order to cure this disorder operational therapy
can be used. It supports patients in connecting to the social activities that assists them in
preventing feeling of loneliness. The group work project aims to structure strategies to
overcome TBI.
MAIN BODY
Hypothetical occupational challenges
Meaning of living independently
Patients suffering from TBI faces various occupational challenges such as for job purpose
they might have to live independently. It means that individuals have the ability to identify
alternatives and make the decision of their life on their own and same as the non disabled person.
Importance of meal preparation training
Living alone means they have to prepare their own meal which can be quiet difficult for
youth. Meal preparation training will assist young adults in saving money which they spend on
food and also they can have healthy diet prepared by their own (White et.al. (2016). Provide
training to acquired brain injury youth can assists them in taking interests in activities like
cooking that can enhance there health outcomes. Therapists can assists patients in using various
strategies or tools while cooking. Like for example they can use modified and simplified recipes,
unharmful utensils in order to reduce risk or harm.
Fatigue and memory loss difficulties
Fatigue and memory loss decreases independently in youth as it reduces physical
performances of an individual and causes problems like low concentration and job performance.
Suffering from fatigue can make an individual anxious or depressed. Also, they can suffer from
insomnia that can lower there efficiency and output in working. This disorder can make an
individual feel tired and make them ineffective to do any task. It makes a person feel like they
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have a lack of energy, stressed and depressed. It mainly arises due to insufficient sleep or mental
illness. All these signs and symptoms reduces independently of youth.
Loneliness and social isolation impact
Youth suffering from TBI have a difficulty in interacting with others which causes social
isolation and loneliness (Turkstra & Politis (2017). It causes poorer health in youth and higher s
mortality rate. Social isolation increases further risk of various other diseases such as
cardiovascular, hypertension and many more. It raises inflammation in a human body and reduce
there amount of sleep. This can penetrate the working of youth brain. Not connecting socially
with other people can lead to loneliness, lower self esteem and confidence. This also hampers
youth occupational life which makes them more depress. Fatigue reduces young adults quality of
life.
Areas of further information required
Attention: Information related to youth suffering from TBI can be collected by observing
their cognitive skills. Nurses needs to analyse if patient is going through issues relating to
language and interaction. Difficulty in learning and recognising new things.
Information processing: Health-care professionals needs to identify if patient is able to
process information and is creating a meaning from them. They need to analyse are service users
attentive while listening.
Memory skills: Nurses needs to examine if patient is able to recognise names of able or
daily routine tasks performed by them. Are users able to retain information for longer or shorter
duration.
Perception: Information can be collected on basis of perception of youth suffering from
TBI. Nurses can record perception of individuals by analysing if they are able to convert visual,
au-dial facts into meaningful information.
Meta cognition: Nurses can gather data through observing if patient is aware about
abilities and deficits they are facing. It is related to awareness of moments while been involved
in cognitive tasks.
Executive functions: Information can be collected by observing the behaviour and
personality changes in youth (Skolnick et.al. (2014). It can be gathered through measuring their
fatigue and psycho level. Like for example if individual is able to recognise things while
listening. How they are able to perform physically and interests patient take in social activities.
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Methods of gathering further information
Cognitive assessment: Information related to youth suffering from TBI can be collected
by taking referrals from their GP or occupational therapists. It can be also gathered by observing
their occupational performance, ability to recognise things, there level of independence and
safety measures undertaken by youth.
ADL assessment: Data can be gathered through the severity of their disease. It can be
collected by observing there stimulation of daily routine tasks, ability to react normally on
certain situation or environment, focus on job or occupation.
Functional assessment: This assessment supports in collecting information through
safety and independently measures used by an individual (Henry et.al. (2015). Information can
also be collected through alteration in there functions, mood and ability to perform tasks. It can
be also gathered from speech therapist or neurologist patient is considering.
Non standardized assessment: Nurses can gather information by involving in discussion
with patient itself or there family members. While collecting data communication should be
effective, so that they are able to know thoughts and views of both service users and there
relatives.
Synthesized hypothetical information, hypothetical assessment findings and assumptions made
Summary: It has been summarised that youth suffering from Traumatic brain injury have
a difficulty in living alone. They also find it hard to prepare their meals. For this they individual
can make use of various strategies and tools. It has been analysed that because of TBI they face
problems related to loneliness and social isolation. They are unable to freely interact with other
individuals. Youth also faces issues linked with memory lows which sowers their speed and
lowers the ability to work.
Occupational challenges are also faced by them like preparation of meal. For this they
can use standardized and simplified recipes for preparing food. Also, they face issues while
socially interacting with others. The challenging tasks for them in this disorder can include
individuals might face problem in gathering strength to interact with other people. Youth can
join various health related club which can assists them in removing there feeling of isolation and
enhance communication abilities that supports individuals in interacting with others.
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Group approaches and related intervention strategies identified and rationale for selection
provided
Factors considered to form a group
While forming a group various factors such as participation, managing of absenteeism
will be considered. All the participants in the group project will be youth suffering from acquired
brain injury (Rosenberg et.al. (2015). Co-leadership would exist with strategies relating to
effective communication. Leader will play the role to perform all the activities with honesty.
Main objective to form a group is to enhance overall health outcome of patients.
Effectiveness of group program
Group program will lay emphasis on the challenges such as meal preparation, social
isolation and loneliness that is faced by youth suffering from acquired brain injury. Program will
focus on strategies and techniques that can be used by patients in order to overcome the issues.
After attending the program individual can feel a change in there life, they would have a better
health and improved life style.
Selected group work approach
In order to enhance the health outcome of youth suffering from Traumatic brain injury
selected approach such as educating patients and errorless learning would be implemented in
group work. Education will be provided to participants relating to the signs and symptoms of
disorders. This would help them in early detection of diseases and can save patient from higher
risk. Errorless learning is also been used in the group work project (Suter (2016). It is the most
effective way to make participants teach about rules, regulations and habits to individuals who
are suffering from TBI. It is mainly utilising instruction which are been created to prevent errors.
With this process individual can generate the ways to behave appropriately.
Strategies to implement for the group engagement and improving the effectiveness
Various methods such as motivational strategies can be used in order to improve the
group effectiveness. In these participants would be encouraged to share there views and
opinions. Also, to reduce social isolation of youth many ceremonies and certification programs
would be held in order to motivate individuals. This will help in creating an environment that
may support them in sharing experiences through which participants can learn. The sessions will
be practised in real life environment and topic will be taught to youth multiple number of times.
Also, feedback will be given to them about their performance, so that participants can improve.
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Short-term goals and objectives
Goal and objective of the group project is to reduce occupational challenges and feeling
of social isolation in youth suffering from Traumatic brain injury. Target set up the team will be
specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound (Burda et.al., (2016). Goal attainment
scaling (GAS) can be used for assessing outcomes in mental health settings. This process lays
emphasis on communication and collaboration among inter-disciplinary team and patient as they
are going to fulfil the objective together. The objectives can be achieved by the workforce
through getting support from family members of patient and user itself. Also, goals are more
likely to be achieved if patient itself is being involved in process. Gas techniques includes-
Identification of goals- To reduce challenges faced by TBI patients and decrease social
isolation
Weight objectives- Here rating would be done such as achieving which objective is more
important. Like for example decreasing social isolation is more important than reducing
occupational risk.
Expected outcomes- Nurses needs to define the outcomes like after group approach
patient will increase their social interaction.
Score baseline- Patient who is been improving at a constant state would be given more
points.
Goal attainment scoring- These scores will help in calculating the overall performance
of patient and will motivate them to improve.
Full program overview
Aim of session
Aim of the whole group project is to enhance independent living skills, reduce
occupational challenges and decrease social isolation plus loneliness of participants.
Topics covered
Various topics are been covered in the project in order to achieve the goal and objectives.
Information are being collected through methods such as functional, cognitive and non
standardised assessment (Burda, Bernstein & Sofroniew (2016). It has assisted the team in
knowing about the behavioural skills and techniques followed by participants. Also, data related
to TBI youth can also be gathered through meta cognition, information processing. It assists
nurses in knowing whether participant is able to convert audio visual acts in meaningful
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conversations. Report discusses about strategies like imparting training related to meal, so that
youth do not face difficulty while living alone. Functional interventions such as education and
errorless learning are being utilised in order to enhance the effectiveness of group programs. It
highlights about how group would be framed according to the needs of patients. Education
related to signs and symbol of disorder is also been given to individuals so that they are aware of
the future loss. Group project also lay emphasis on making participant use simple and modified
recipe in order to easily prepare food. They would be provided emotional support so that, patient
van share there views, emotions and thoughts (Burda, Bernstein & Sofroniew (2016).
Furthermore, various strategies are also been used to improve participants performance.
Methods such as observing performance of patients and using quiz or workbooks to make the
session interesting from them are also been implemented. Team focuses on creating a realistic
environment that helps individual in sharing their experience. Here, they can share their own
ideas or viewpoints and provide feedback for the practices taken by team. Also, for improving
health outcome of participants nurses can make use of environment that would work best for
them.
Evaluation strategy
The success of the program would be evaluated by discussing or having an interview with
friends, patient and family members of participants. Questions would be asked related to the
health condition of service user. Also, questions will be related to the challenges such as
occupational are been faced by patient or not (Allman (2016). Interview would be held on the
basis of principles of ethical research. No personal question or discrimination will be done while
asking questions. Furthermore, discussion would be done on if participants are finding any
difficulty to interact socially.
Session 1
Aim:
The main agenda of this session was to develop Independent living skills of participants.
Task
In order to develop independent living skill of participants, leaders have allotted role to
each team members and they were asked to make a group of two people to perform this work.
They were very clear with their role and responsibility. First leaders have develop good
relationship with all members and made them aware with their duties in group project. Flow of
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session was very smooth, each participant were involved properly. First all the clients those who
were suffering from loneliness due to TBI were asked to perform certain fun activities in group.
This has raised their confidence and they were engaged in it (Malekoff, 2015).
Collaboration is the best way to improve formal operational thinking of people those who
suffer from TBI. Group work is very effective in cognitive development of individual, by this
way person develops their independent living skills. Group working helps in sharing their
experiences with peer group and increasing social interaction with others. In order to perform
particular task team members were interacting with peer members. This has developed close
lasting bonds among them. Group has created positive environment for all participants where
they can feel safe. Such type of atmospheres helps in dealing with physical, emotional
challenges and finding the best way to live independently (Allman, 2016). Appreciation was
giving by leaders to each good performer that was boosting their confidence. Curative factor that
were used in this session were installation of hopes, sharing ideas with others, development of
socializing techniques. All the participants have learnt that how they can learn by looking at
others.
Leader was motivating all involved people and was boosting their energy by sharing
motivational words. If any person fails to do the same then leader have given second chance and
have worked with them to complete that task and raising their confidence. There were two
experienced presenters; they have shared their experience with participants just to boost their
energy (Cole, 2014).
Evaluation strategy
For evaluating entire session leader has used COPM strategy. This was used as client
centred tool in which presenter has analysed the changes that have occurred in perception of
client. Initially presenter has developed relationship with participant and has asked them to give
ranking to their essential daily activities and problems experienced by them in their everyday
life. This has supported in understanding their psychotic behaviour. Mindfulness, mood
management skills were used to develop independent skills of participants.
All planned activities were great and participants have enjoyed a lot. After this session
they were able to interact with each other properly and sharing their experiences with other peer
group members.
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Session 2
Aim
To develop stress- busters skills in participants
Task
In the initial session clients were asked to share their strength and hobbies. Leader of
group has observed likes and dislikes of all individuals. After that it was asked whether they
have received any positive changes in their daily activities or not. In this session leaders have
discussed about protective factors that can help them in managing their stress level related to
occupation. Presenter has called them to perform exercise that is visualizing movie of success.
Each person was asked to close their eye and think about positive and negative memories of their
life. What they have done well and how they have deal with critical situations. Some of them
were really supervised because they have analysed their abilities (Helping Self-Harming
Students, 2010). They have realised that in critical situation they have reacted well and they were
appraised for the same. After that participants have shared their positive and negative
experiences in group. They shared their feelings that how they have deal with such
circumstances. Flow of session was very smooth and it has helped in increasing participation of
the individuals. Stress buster leadership group them was related to effective tools that can
support in dealing with occupational stress in human being life.
Leader has motivated each individual and have shared own experiences as well. By this
way each person has realised that many other negative circumstances that occur with other
persons and they have faced such situations well (Malekoff, 2015). After hearing experiences of
leaders they get motivated and feel that they can also deal with their occupational changes
effectively. Sharing strength and hobbies in a group has actually made them aware with their
potential of working and stress management skills. Furthermore, informal observation strategy
also implemented in order to evaluate the session plan. After completion of session, all the
respondents were observed what positive changes have occurred in their life and their confidence
level has been measured. After completion it has been analysed that many of the participants
were very happy and now they were able to utilise their skills properly. This can be better for
them in managing stress well and dealing with complex situations appropriately (Cole, 2014).
Evaluation
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In order to evaluate the success of this session presenter has taken support of COPM
approach. This is best way to find out actual results and client outcome. All participants have
shared their views that they can now manage their stress properly. After this session all the
participants have acknowledged their strengths and they have realised that they can also manage
occupational stress easily. In this evaluation strategy leader has asked to give ranking to all
participants, they have given rank to their victory. This has made it more successful and
supported people in improving their stress- buster’s skills significantly.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Allman, T. (2016). Self-Harm. Greenhaven Publishing LLC.
Burda, J. E., Bernstein, A. M., & Sofroniew, M. V. (2016). Astrocyte roles in traumatic brain
injury. Experimental neurology.275. 305-315.
Cole, M. B. (2014). Client-centred groups. Creek's Occupational Therapy and Mental Health E-
Book, 241.
Henry, L. C., Burkhart, S. O., Elbin, R. J., Agarwal, V., & Kontos, A. P. (2015). Traumatic
axonal injury and persistent emotional lability in an adolescent following moderate
traumatic brain injury: a case study. Journal of clinical and experimental
neuropsychology.37(4).439-454.
Malekoff, A. (2015). Group work with adolescents: Principles and practice. Guilford
Publications.
Rosenberg, H., Dethier, M., Kessels, R. P., Westbrook, R. F., & McDonald, S. (2015). Emotion
perception after moderate–severe traumatic brain injury: The valence effect and the role of
working memory, processing speed, and nonverbal reasoning. Neuropsychology.29(4).
509.
Skolnick, B. E., Maas, A. I., Narayan, R. K., Van Der Hoop, R. G., MacAllister, T., Ward, J.
D., ... & Stocchetti, N. (2014). A clinical trial of progesterone for severe traumatic brain
injury. New England Journal of Medicine.371(26), 2467-2476.
Suter, P. S. (2016). Rehabilitation and management of visual dysfunction following traumatic
brain injury. In Traumatic brain injury (pp. 323-370). CRC Press.
Turkstra, L. S., & Politis, A. M. (2017). Traumatic Brain Injury. In Research in Clinical
Pragmatics (pp. 291-322). Springer, Cham.
White, H., & Venkatesh, B. (2016). Traumatic brain injury. Oxford Textbook of Neurocritical
Care. 210.
Wilson, N. M., Gurney, M. E., Dietrich, W. D., & Atkins, C. M. (2017). Traumatic brain
injury. PLoS ONE. 12(5).
Online
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Helping Self-Harming Students. 2010. [Online]. Available through
<http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/dec09/vol67/num04/
Helping_Self-Harming_Students.aspx>
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