Brain Injury Education and Outpatient Navigation-1stBIEN

TBI is a major cause of acquired disability in children. Approximately 60% of children with moderate to severe TBI have long-term cognitive, emotional, or physical deficits. Compared to non-Hispanic children, Hispanic children have higher disability 3 years after TBI, even though differences are not present at hospital discharge. Known risk factors for poor TBI outcomes in children such as underinsurance, low socioeconomic status, and limited parental education are highly prevalent among Hispanics, especially among immigrants from Central America and Mexico. Barriers for receipt of outpatient rehabilitation for Hispanic children are multiple including gaps in understanding of TBI and treatments, limited availability of culturally and linguistically relevant educational resources; and barriers to access services due to transportation, and under-insurance.

Education and navigation programs are efficacious in improving adherence to treatment for children with chronic conditions but have not been tested in children with TBI, despite the need for long-term outpatient rehabilitation. The investigators developed and pilot tested the 1st intervention designed for Hispanic children with TBIs and their families consisting of Brain Injury Education and outpatient Navigation (1st BIEN). The 1st BIEN intervention proposes the novel use of telephone based, culturally relevant patient navigation and education for Hispanic parents of children with TBI. It aims to improve access and adherence to treatment to decrease disability in this high-risk and understudied population. In the 1st BIEN pilot, the investigators established feasibility and acceptability for the program. Now the investigators propose a multicenter randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of 1st BIEN to maintain long-term adherence to rehabilitation and determine its effect on child's functional outcomes.

Specific aims:

Aim 1. Test the efficacy of the 1st BIEN intervention to improve receipt of overall 1 year follow-up care and outpatient rehabilitation after a TBI among children and adolescents of Hispanic families.

Hypothesis 1a. Intervention group children will have higher attendance at follow-up appointments and higher initiation and attendance at outpatient therapies 6 months after discharge, compared to control children.

Aim 2. Determine the effect of the 1st BIEN intervention on functional outcomes and social participation at 3, 6 and 12 months after TBI hospital discharge among children and adolescents of Hispanic families.

Hypothesis 2a. Intervention group children will have higher adaptive functioning, health related quality of life, better physical, and emotional function, at 3, 6 and 12 months after hospital discharge, compared to control children.

Hypothesis 2b. Intervention group children will have higher levels of social participation measured by earlier school reintegration, receipt of educational resources, and participation in extracurricular activities.

Exploratory Aim 3. Test possible moderators and mediators of 1st BIEN intervention effects. Exploratory analyses will test possible moderators of intervention effects (i.e. pre-injury parental acculturation and education) and possible mediators (i.e. post-intervention parental knowledge, self-efficacy, mental health).

Study design:

Multi-center randomized control trial, enrolling 150 parent-child dyads; Hispanic children 3-17 years of age, hospitalized with a mild, moderate or severe TBI and their primary caregiver parent from 5 centers in Washington, Texas, Dallas, Utah and Oregon. All parents will receive in person education and linguistically and culturally tailored written TBI materials. Intervention parents additionally receive 3 months of Patient Navigation (PN) to support transitions of care and video education through mobile phone devices to promote TBI advocacy skills and reinforce essential TBI knowledge. Control group parents will receive well-child texts once a month to control for attention and follow up per institutional standard of care. Control parents do not receive patient navigation or video education.

Randomization will be done in a 1:1 ratio at each participating institution using a computer-generated random assignment sequence prepared by the study biostatistician and stratified by injury severity (mild complicated; moderate-severe) and age (3-5; 6-11;12-17).

While education using the 1stBIEN booklet is not part of the current usual care at participating institutions, providing all families with initial education at the time of discharge addresses ethical and practical considerations. It standardizes discharge processes at participating institutions while delineating differences in the intensity of education and care coordination activities. The written information given to the attention control group does not equal the amount (dosage) given to the intervention group but provides consistent information to all participants.

Considering that acute processes of care can influence outpatient adherence to treatment and patient outcomes, the investigators will measure institutional and patient level quality indicators of acute rehabilitation care. At the individual level the investigators will measure receipt of inpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy evaluations and rehabilitation consults; and indicators of family centered care such as assistance with identified needs, telephone counseling services and provision of a contact person for questions after discharge.

Reliability of the intervention will be ensured through meticulous in-person training prior to intervention implementation and monitoring of strict adherence to elements of the intervention. Education of PNs follows a pre-determined curriculum that includes screening and recruitment procedures, inform consent procedures, education of parents using the written materials and using lay language. Training on how to conduct baseline evaluations, scales and forms. After the training PNs should demonstrate proficiency in all procedures, in two case scenarios including use of problem-solving skills during follow-up patient navigation calls, delivery of initial education and delivery of individualized video content education. These tasks will also be monitored on a regular basis via weekly conference calls and complemented by site visits once a year. the investigators will audit twenty percent of PN calls to check for protocol adherence using a standardized checklist. the investigators will audit calls during the first month of implementation of the intervention and then randomly over the 2-year period, following adherence checklists.