Lifestyle changes with help from Health Profile Assessment in combination with support in individual interventions for persons with acquired brain injury – A pilot study

Abstract

Little is known about how to support a lifestyle change for persons with acquired brain injury (ABI), who have poor health compared with the rest of the population. This study investigates whether the Health Profile Assessment (HPA) combined with individual support in individually adjusted interventions could affect the lifestyle of persons with ABI. This longitudinal prospective and quasi-experimental study has a before and after design. HPA aims to improve health habits, perceived health and physiological measurements. In addition, this study includes interventions based on individual goals and actions decided on by the participants. The intervention process was supported through various communication methods such as Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Transactional Analyses (TA). The studied group (n = 25) included persons with cognitive impairments due to ABI who were considered for outpatient rehabilitation at a specialized facility at a university hospital in south-eastern Sweden. Results at follow-up showed significant improvements in physical activity, perceived health and diet. Significant improvements were also shown in sagittal abdominal diameter, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI) and physical fitness. Consequently, this study describes a method that successfully supported lifestyle changes in persons with ABI.

Key words::

• Disease prevention
• health promotion
• Motivational Interviewing
• physiotherapy

Ethics approval

The study has been approved by an ethics committee (Dnr 2011/14-31).

Funding

This study was financially supported by the County Council of Östergötland, Sweden.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all patients who participated in this study, and for all the support from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University Hospital in Linköping, Sweden as well as Health Profile Institute, Danderyd, Sweden.

Declaration of interest: One of the authors (G A) has an employment at the HPA, the Health Profile Institute AB. He has served as an expert and a supervisor on the HPA methodology. G A has no financial interest in the study and has not been involved in the data collection or analyses of data. The first and third authors (EL-H and KS) report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notice of correction

Following publication of the article online, the affiliation details were updated to display the correct information.