Does Facebook Use Provide Social Benefits to Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury?

Drawing on the social compensation hypothesis, this study investigates whether Facebook use facilitates social connectedness for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI), a common and debilitating medical condition that often results in social isolation. In a survey (N = 104 participants; n = 53 with TBI, n = 51 without TBI), individuals with TBI reported greater preference for self-disclosure on Facebook (vs. face-to-face) compared to noninjured individuals. For noninjured participants, a preference for Facebook self-disclosure was associated with the enactment of relational maintenance behaviors on Facebook, which was then associated with greater closeness with Facebook friends. However, no such benefits emerged for individuals with TBI, whose preference for Facebook self-disclosure was not associated with relationship maintenance behaviors on Facebook, and did not lead to greater closeness with Facebook friends. These findings show that the social compensation hypothesis has partial utility in the novel context of TBI, and suggest the need for developing technological supports to assist this vulnerable population on social media platforms.

Understanding the benefits and challenges of outpatient virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Canadian pediatric rehabilitation hospital.

PURPOSE: The evolving virtual health care experience highlights the potential of technology to serve as a way to enhance care. Having virtual options for assessment, consultation and intervention were essential during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, especially for children with disabilities and their families. The purpose of our study was to describe the benefits and challenges of outpatient virtual care during the pandemic within pediatric rehabilitation. METHODS: This qualitative study, part of a larger mixed methods project, involved in-depth interviews with 17 participants (10 parents, 2 youth, 5 clinicians) from a Canadian pediatric rehabilitation hospital. We analyzed the data using a thematic approach. RESULTS: Our findings demonstrated three main themes: (1) benefits of virtual care (e.g., continuity of care, convenience, stress reduction and flexibility, and comfort within the home environment and enhanced rapport); (2) challenges related to virtual care (e.g., technical difficulties and lack of technology, environmental distractions and constraints, communication difficulty, and health impacts); and (3) advice for the future of virtual care (i.e., offering choice to families, enhanced communication and addressing health equity issues). CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians and hospital leaders should consider addressing the modifiable barriers in accessing and delivering virtual care to optimize its effectiveness.

Families are invested in access to virtual care appointments and can benefit from clear communication about choices regarding appointment options and supports in how to access and use technology for equitable access to care.Hospitals should aim to provide clinicians with an appropriate workspace (i.e., private, quiet with adequate room to demonstrate what they need to do), equipment and technology to have virtual care appointments.Current understanding of virtual care delivery suggests a tailored approach, with some types of appointments, such as follow-ups or check-ins, more suited to this modality than other more hands-on therapy.

The Teach-ABI Professional Development Module for Educators About Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury: Mixed Method Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Acquired brain injury (ABI) is a leading cause of death and disability in children and can lead to lasting cognitive, physical, and psychosocial outcomes that affect school performance. Students with an ABI experience challenges returning to school due in part to lack of educator support and ABI awareness. A lack of knowledge and training contribute to educators feeling unprepared to support students with ABI. Teach-ABI, an online professional development module, was created to enhance educators' ABI knowledge and awareness to best support students. Using a case-based approach, Teach-ABI explains what an ABI is, identifies challenges for students with ABI in the classroom, discusses the importance of an individualized approach to supporting students with ABI, and describes how to support a student with an ABI in the classroom. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the usability of and satisfaction with Teach-ABI by elementary school educators. The following questions were explored: (1) Can elementary school teachers use and navigate Teach-ABI?, (2) Are the content and features of Teach-ABI satisfactory?, and (3) What modifications are needed to improve Teach-ABI? METHODS: Elementary school educators currently employed or in training to be employed in Ontario elementary schools were recruited. Using Zoom, individual online meetings with a research team member were held, where educators actively reviewed Teach-ABI. Module usability was evaluated through qualitative analysis of think-aloud data and semistructured interviews, direct observation, user success rate during task completion, and the System Usability Scale (SUS) scores. The usability benchmark selected was 70% of participants performing more than half of module tasks independently. RESULTS: A total of 8 female educators participated in the study. Educators were classroom (n=7) and preservice (n=1) teachers from public (n=7) and private (n=1) school boards. In terms of task performance, more than 85% of participants (ie, 7/8) independently completed 10 out of 11 tasks and 100% of participants independently completed 7 out of 11 tasks, demonstrating achievement of the module usability goal. The average overall SUS score was 86.25, suggesting a high satisfaction level with the perceived usability of Teach-ABI. Overall, participants found Teach-ABI content valuable, useful, and aligned with the realities of their profession. Participants appreciated the visual design, organization, and varying use of education strategies within Teach-ABI. Opportunities for enhancement included broadening content case examples of students with ABI and enhancing the accessibility of the content. CONCLUSIONS: Validated usability measures combined with qualitative methodology revealed educators' high level of satisfaction with the design, content, and navigation of Teach-ABI. Educators engaged with the module as active participants in knowledge construction, as they reflected, questioned, and connected content to their experiences and knowledge. This study established strong usability and satisfaction with Teach-ABI and demonstrated the importance of usability testing in building online professional development modules.

Pediatric acquired brain injury resources for educators: a multi-year scan of Canadian-relevant internet resources.

BACKGROUND: Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is the leading cause of death and disability in children, yet educators report a lack of knowledge about ABI and supporting students with ABI. With no formal learning about ABI, education professionals may turn to the internet for information. OBJECTIVES: To find online resources about supporting students with ABI, in any format, available freely and publicly, aimed toward elementary educators and that could be applied in a Canadian context. METHODS: We performed an environmental scan using keyword Google searches, key websites, and expert recommendations. The search was performed twice: 2018 and 2021. RESULTS: 96 resources were included after screening. The resources were published by organizations in the United States (n = 57), Canada (n = 19), United Kingdom (n = 16), Australia (n = 3) and New Zealand (n = 1). Traumatic brain injury and concussion were the most commonly addressed type of ABI, and Short Fact/Information sheets were the most common resource format. Between 2018 and 2021, 13 previously included resource links were no longer accessible. CONCLUSIONS: This scan suggests that there are many online resources available to educators in a variety of formats, and that information online can be transient. Future studies should evaluate the accuracy and quality of the resources available.

Corrigendum: Early attachment and the development of social communication: A neuropsychological approach.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.838950.].

A mapping review of adolescent identity after TBI: what clinicians need to know.

ABSTRACTAdolescence is a critical period for developing a sense of identity, an iterative process that relies on the development of skills such as self-reflection and self-appraisal. Outcomes of identity development include personal ethics, knowledge of one's strengths and challenges, and, ultimately, independence. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects these outcomes in adults, when identity has been established and may need to be redefined; but what happens when an injury occurs while identity is being formed? To answer this question, we used mapping review methodology to explore TBI effects on adolescent identity formation, mapping the evidence onto a biopsychosocial framework for rehabilitation. We reviewed studies on identity in adolescents with mild to severe TBI ages 13-18 years, published from inception to 2021, with a focus on outpatient rehabilitation settings. Key findings of the mapping review noted adolescents post-TBI are likely to: (1) question their identity considering dissonance between the current self and their pre-injury self; and (2) seek to establish new, adaptive meanings and identities. All studies drew conclusions regarding identity and participation of adolescents post-TBI. Results provided insight into the importance of considering individualized rehabilitation interventions for adolescents, given their unique developmental path towards identity formation.

Early Attachment and the Development of Social Communication: A Neuropsychological Approach.

Social communication forms the foundation of human relationships. Social communication, i.e., the appropriate understanding and use of verbal and non-verbal communication within a social context, profoundly impacts mental health across the lifespan and is also highly vulnerable to neurodevelopmental threats and social adversities. There exists a strong interconnection between the development of language and other higher cognitive skills, mediated, in part, through the early attachment relationship. Consideration of how attachment links to brain development can help us understand individuals with social communication difficulties across the lifespan. The early attachment relationship supports the development of the foundational constructs of social communication. In this paper, a neuropsychological perspective was applied to social communication, which integrated evidence from early attachment theory, examining the underpinnings of social communication components identified by the SoCom model, namely socio-cognitive, socio-emotional, and socio-linguistic constructs. A neuropsychological perspective underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. This should also inform approaches to prevention, policy, intervention, and advocacy for individuals with or at risk for social communication impairments, as well as their families.

Effects of Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury on Verbal IQ: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) on verbal IQ by severity and over time. METHODS: A systematic review and subsequent meta-analysis of verbal IQ by TBI severity were conducted using a random effects model. Subgroup analysis included two epochs of time (e.g., <12 months postinjury and ≥12 months postinjury). RESULTS: Nineteen articles met inclusion criteria after an extensive literature search in MEDLINE, PsycInfo, Embase, and CINAHL. Meta-analysis revealed negative effects of injury across severities for verbal IQ and at both time epochs except for mild TBI < 12 months postinjury. Statistical heterogeneity (i.e., between-study variability) stemmed from studies with inconsistent classification of mild TBI, small sample sizes, and in studies of mixed TBI severities, although not significant. Risk of bias on estimated effects was generally low (k = 15) except for studies with confounding bias (e.g., lack of group matching by socio-demographics; k = 2) and measurement bias (e.g., outdated measure at time of original study, translated measure; k = 2). CONCLUSIONS: Children with TBI demonstrate long-term impairment in verbal IQ, regardless of severity. Future studies are encouraged to include scores from subtests within verbal IQ (e.g., vocabulary, similarities, comprehension) in addition to functional language measures (e.g., narrative discourse, reading comprehension, verbal reasoning) to elucidate higher-level language difficulties experienced in this population.

The Effect of Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury on Verbal Fluency Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Verbal fluency is a neuropsychological measure commonly used to examine cognitive-linguistic performance as reported in pediatric TBI literature. We synthesized the scholarly literature of verbal fluency performance in pediatric TBI and estimated the effects of TBI according to: (i) type of verbal fluency task (phonemic or semantic), (ii) severity of TBI, and (iii) time post-injury. Meta-analysis revealed that childhood TBI negatively impacted phonemic fluency and semantic fluency and that effect sizes were larger for children with more severe TBI. The negative effect of TBI was evident across time post injury within each level of severity. Verbal fluency tasks are efficient indicators of potential underlying impairments in lexical knowledge and executive functioning in children with TBI regardless of severity of injury or time post injury. Future research employing verbal fluency tasks are encouraged to explore if age at injury differentiates semantic versus phonemic fluency outcomes across severity levels.

A Conceptual Framework of Social Communication: Clinical Applications to Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.

Social communication impairments are common following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) and can lead to social isolation, and poor social outcomes. Social communication has been documented as a persistent area of need in terms of proper assessment and intervention; however, this is not consistently addressed in clinical practice. While there is a body of evidence regarding social communication impairments and pediatric TBI, this area is not yet fully understood and remains underrecognized. To meet this gap, we provide a conceptual framework of social communication from a neurodevelopmental perspective, which can be applied to better understand the social communication impairments associated with pediatric TBI. We propose a general model of social communication with component constructs and consideration of internal factors such as sex and gender. These can inform considerations, clinical applications, and future research in assessment and evidence-based interventions within the domain of social communication.