Psychological Interventions In Rehab Recovery

Scientific studies are a crucial aspect to understanding the study of kinesiology. Studies help showcase how injury outcomes can be dealt with in many aspects and through many interventions. One of the studies found, places the focus on the psychological interventions in rehab recovery. The intervention tests the efficacy of scheduled telephone calls in regards of ameliorating depressive symptoms during the first year following a traumatic brain injury. The rationale for the following study is to determine whether an intervention designed to improve functioning after traumatic brain injury (TBI) will also abate depressive symptoms that rise with the injury. TBIs are associated with increased suicide rates in the general population, with a primary factor being poor or limited cognitive functioning that renders the injured the feeling of incompetence. Symptoms that the injured individuals go through can be anything from increased aggression and anxiety, all the way to functional disabilities and poorer global recovery. Such symptoms pave a way to a depressive disorder which, if not treated or looked after immediately, can continue down a severe path. The design of the study would be considered a well thought out design as it was single blinded, as well as included randomized controlled trials. Randomization is crucial in study designs because they ensure that the data entries all have equal chances and the mishap of miscalculation is reduced due to a reduction in bias. Moreover, the study included two groups. The first group received the standard care, as well as some psychological intervention such as the telephone call preciously mentioned. The first group was identified as the intervention group. On the other hand, the second group, identified as the control group, only received the standard treatment and follow up care. The assignment was kept from the study coordinator until the telephone call to keep patients randomized. The neurobehavioral follow-up examiner was also not aware of which group they were examining, and the patients all received usual care and follow-up treatments but were also told not to reveal information to outcomes examiners.

The researchers then proceeded to compare usual care to scheduled telephone interventions. The exceptions of the participation pool were patients with no access to a telephone, and patients who knew little to no English. All patients who were in the study had TBIs, access to a telephone and varied in age. The participants were split almost evenly with 86 randomly assigned to the standard outpatient care, and 85 randomly assigned to scheduled psychological interventions through the phone. The psychological intervention through the telephone used was scheduled to last a specific duration of time which was between 30-45 minutes. The goal of this intervention was to implement a motivational influence on the patient. Callers were using a certain style and tone that deemed to help showcase how patient centered counseling is found to be effective in health benefits. A counseling route was taken through those phone calls. Given that not many studies were conducted, psychological outcomes where measure with respect to levels of depression. Reanalyzing data was key to understanding how the study was measured. The several telephone interventions that where spread out throughout months, showed a significantly greater measure of status and quality of life than the control group who received usual care did. Elements such as problem solving and behavior where also measured in both groups and the intervention group had a greater outcome that the control group.

The results of the study showed that the interventions were deemed successful with no exception towards an individual of specific gender, age, or severity. Over the first year of TBI being reported, people who received telephone sessions had significantly better outcomes on all depression symptoms that people who received usual care. The results the researchers found showed that not only are telephone calls effective for patients who might face depression after a TBI, but also patients that have already been diagnosed with depression.

The methodology and design of the study help the reader feel more confident towards the findings. The details and evidence provided in the study show accountability of the information provided. Furthermore, the participation pool contained a good variety to ensure that the results do not pertain to a specific group, and the split of the groups of patients increased the strength of the results. The implications of this study are that there is a future in psychological intervention for physical injuries that is immensely effective in reducing mental health adversities, and that the results show that there should be more work being put in towards this line of research. Moreover, the psychological interventions could expand into different forms for different kind of injuries and implemented in far more clinics and rehabilitation facilities if research renders it successful – which in this case it has. An injury to the brain, leg, or arm is as serious as an injury to the mind and how it functions, and there should no longer be a division between the two as they could be concurrent. Limited data for antidepressants surrounding MDD after TBI should encourage researchers to conduct more thorough studies revolving around psychological interventions of injury recovery instead of relying on medication to solve everything.