Improving the communication of people with severe traumatic brain injury: A clinical trial

创伤性脑损伤是澳大利亚年轻人致残的主要原因，在年轻人中尤为普遍。这种情况会干扰思考和解决问题。归根结底，这些问题表现为言语交流障碍。创伤性脑损伤后的沟通问题可能会使关键的关系--如父亲、丈夫和员工--无法维持。那些受影响的人在社交上不合适，在身边也不舒服，这会导致终生失去友谊、失业和社会孤立。最大限度地减少这些终生影响对受影响者的健康至关重要，对减轻这种疾病的经济负担至关重要。已有两种方法被证明可以改善创伤性脑损伤患者的沟通。社交技能培训是有帮助的，培训合作伙伴处理困难的沟通行为也是有帮助的。然而，到目前为止，还没有研究同时研究这两种康复方法。因此，目前还不清楚是使用这两种方法中的一种，还是两种方法都能达到最佳效果。本项目使用临床试验方法对三种治疗创伤性脑损伤的方法进行创新评估，并与对照组进行比较。这项试验涉及将治疗的成本效益作为结果衡量标准的概念进展，并纳入了衡量言语交流复杂性的先进方法。多学科首席调查组在研究创伤性脑损伤及其康复的必要学科方面拥有国际记录。

Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of disability in young Australians, and is particularly prevalent in young men. The condition disturbs thinking and problem solving. Ultimately, these problems manifest in impaired verbal communication. Communication problems following traumatic brain injury can make critical relationships-such as father, husband, and employee-impossible to sustain. Those affected are socially inappropriate and uncomfortable to be around, which causes a lifetime of lost friendships, unemployability, and social isolation. Minimisation of these lifelong effects is of the utmost importance to the health of those affected, and is critical to reducing the economic burden of the condition. Two approaches have been shown to improve the communication of those with traumatic brain injury. Training in social skills is helpful, as is training partners to deal with difficult communication behaviours. However, to date, no research has concurrently studied these two approaches to rehabilitation. Consequently, it is unknown whether best results are achieved with either one of the two methods, or both. The present project uses a clinical trials approach in an innovative evaluation of three methods of treating those with traumatic brain injury compared with a control group. The trial involves the conceptual advances of including cost effectiveness of treatment as an outcome measure, and inclusion of advanced methods to measure the intricacies of verbal communication. The multidisciplinary team of Chief Investigators has international track records in the requisite disciplines for the study of traumatic brain injury and its rehabilitation.