Characterizing the Pathways and Outcomes of Post Acute Brain Injury Rehabilitation

This project extends our prior investigations of the effectiveness of specialized, post-acute brain injury rehabilitation. In order to understand the contribution of postacute rehabiltiation to rehabilitation outcomes, we must first answer the question of how to characterize the course of post-acute brain injury rehabilitation, and its impact on the long term outcomes of people with brain injuries. Although there is increasing evidence that postacute brain injury rehabilitation can improve functional outcomes after TBI, population-based outcome studies have generally not considered the influence of different pathways of postacute rehabilitation on outcomes after TBI. We are conducting a longitudinal, observational pilot study that will characterize postacute rehabilitation in the TBI Model Systems, and examine the pathways of postacute rehabilitation in relation to case-mix variables, patterns of service utilization, barriers to service delivery, and participants’ perceived needs and satisfaction with treatment.