Effect of distance caregiver coaching on functional skills of a child with traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACT

Objective: To assess the effect of distance caregiver coaching on skill acquisition of a child with traumatic brain injury. Interactions between caregivers and persons with brain injury may play a critical role in the rehabilitation process, and coaching caregivers is one method that may foster more positive functional outcomes for the individual as caregiver skills may generalize across domains. Method: This study utilised a single-subject, multiple baseline across behaviours design to examine the effects of caregiver behaviours on skill acquisition by a child with a traumatic brain injury. The caregiver-client dyad in this study was a mother and her 10-year-old adopted child. The caregiver was coached using telehealth technology. Distance coaching consisted of in-vivo feedback on the caregiver’s use of general behaviour analytic skills, such as use of effective prompting and positive social consequences, while engaging with the child with a brain injury. Conclusion: Improvements in the child’s independent task completion across three functional skills were observed, as a function of improvements in the caregiver’s skills.

KEYWORDS:

• Paediatric brain injury
• abusive head trauma
• distance coaching
• telehealth
• caregiver behaviours
• multiple-baseline

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge and thank Ana Barkaia, Leslie Brittain, Melissa Grant, Claire Gallagher, as well as the Board of Trustees and staff of Crossroads to Brain Injury Recovery, Inc. for their valuable support during the completion of this research.