Document Type

Capstone

Abstract

This Capstone project discusses a piloted support group for Eastern North Carolina at Vidant Medical Center for caregivers of children with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Through collaboration with Vidant Medical Center interprofessionals, my fieldwork supervisor, and literature reviews of scholarly articles I designed outcome objectives and an itinerary for four piloted support group sessions. Support group topics included health maintenance, stress management, leisure exploration, parenting children with a TBI, and learning self-care management skills. Pre-and post-questionnaires were created and provided to participants. These questionnaires included questions concerning level of understanding of TBI, knowledge of community resources, level of stress, how participants currently manage stress, how often the participants partake in leisure interest, and how well participants feel they are taking care of themselves. The pre-and post-questionnaires where compared and helped determine if outcome objectives were met or not. The brief World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL_BREF) was provided to participants on their first session and at the last piloted support group, and used to determine participants' quality of life and if outcome objectives were met or not. There was a total of seven participants, but only five participants information was utilized for the results, due to inconsistent participation. There was a small increase in the caregivers' quality of life. Further research will need to take place to determine if educational support groups for caregivers of children with a TBI increase the participants' quality of life.

Publication Date

4-2018

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