ASSISTECH SYSTEMS LLC — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase II: NICHD

Description

DESCRIPTIONprovided by applicantTraumatic brain injuryTBIis a leading cause of death and disability for children agedin the United StatesMore thanchildren and adolescents are hospitalized annually in the U Safter sustaining moderate severe brain injuries from motor vehicle crashesfallssportsand physical abusemore thanare seen in hospital emergency rooms and releasedTBI often results in significant and permanent alterations in socialbehavioralphysicaland cognitive functioningUnderstanding these changes and developing skills to manage the challenges associated with them are essential for long term positive outcomes for children with TBI and their familiesThe goal of this project is o produce the Traumatic Brain Injury Positive StrategiesTIPSprograma comprehensive educational and training resource to help families improve their knowledge and skills in supporting a child with TBI experiencing cognitivebehavioraland social challengesThe online product will includeathe TBI Resource Centeran extensive library of educational materialsinformationand resources about childhood TBIandbthe Training Centerwhich will provide training in a range of evidence based strategies within a problem solving frameworkPhase I of this project produced and evaluated prototype contentfor the Training Centerincluding two Supporting Cognition modules and a Problem Solving Basics moduleThe prototype was evaluated withparents of children ageswith TBISignificant results from the within subject evaluation demonstrated gains in parentsself efficacygeneral TBI knowledgeand knowledge applicationIn Phase IIwe will developaan assessment module to identify key areas of parent concernbadditional training modules addressing cognitivebehavioraland social domainscthe TBI Resource Centeranddfunctionality for hospital website integrationTo promote knowledge and skill acquisitionthe program will integrate evidence based instructional design elements with video based modelingtaking full advantage of the web s interactive capabilitiesThe program will be developed using an iterative process with an advisory board of rehabilitation professionals from three collaborating children s hospitalsWe will determine the efficacy of the TIPS program in a randomized controlled trial withparents of children with TBIProgram feasibility will be demonstrated by the achievement of significant program effectsa high level of program usageand a high degree of user satisfaction