Anne Norup, Lars Siert, Erik Lykke Mortensen
Department of Neurorehabilitation, Traumatic Brain Injury Unit, Copenhagen University Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark. E-mail: anne.norup@regionh.dk
DOI: 10.2340/16501977-1181

This pilot study investigated the effects of acute neuropsychological intervention for relatives of patients with severe brain injury.
Participants were enrolled in an intervention group comprising 39 relatives, and a control group comprising 47 relatives. The intervention consisted of supportive and psycho-educational sessions with a neuropsychologist in the acute care setting. The intervention group completed self-report scales in the acute setting and after the intervention at admission to sub-acute rehabilitation. The control group completed the self-report scales only at admission to sub-acute rehabilitation. Outcome measures included selected scales from the Symptom Checklist Revised 90 (SCL-90-R), the Short Form 36 (SF-36), and a visual analogue quality of life scale.
The intervention group showed a significant decrease in anxiety scores from the acute to the sub-acute setting (= 2. 70 = 0. 0100. 30), but also significantly lower Role Emotional scores (= 2. 12 = 0. 043, = 0. 40). In the sub-acute setting, an analysis of covariance model showed a borderline significant difference between the intervention and the control group on the anxiety scale (= 0. 066 = 0. 59).
Any effects of the acute neuropsychological intervention were limited. Further research is needed to explore the effects of different interventions in more homo-genous and larger groups of relatives.