Group Therapy Use and Its Impact on the Outcomes of Inpatient Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury: Data From Traumatic Brain Injury-Practice Based Evidence Project.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the amount and content of group therapies provided during inpatient rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury (TBI), and to assess the relations of group therapy with patient, injury, and treatment factors and outcomes.

DESIGN

Prospective observational cohort.

SETTING

Inpatient rehabilitation.

PARTICIPANTS

Consecutive admissions (N=2130) for initial TBI rehabilitation at 10 inpatient rehabilitation facilities (9 in the United States, 1 in Canada) from October 2008 to September 2011.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Proportion of sessions that were group therapy (≥2 patients were treated simultaneously by ≥1 clinician); proportion of patients receiving group therapy; type of activity performed and amount of time spent in group therapy, by discipline; rehabilitation length of stay; discharge location; and FIM cognitive and motor scores at discharge.

RESULTS

Of the patients, 79% received at least 1 session of group therapy, with group therapy accounting for 13.7% of all therapy sessions and 15.8% of therapy hours. On average, patients spent 2.9h/wk in group therapy. The greatest proportion of treatment time in group format was in therapeutic recreation (25.6%), followed by speech therapy (16.2%), occupational therapy (10.4%), psychology (8.1%), and physical therapy (7.9%). Group therapy time and type of treatment activities varied among admission FIM cognitive subgroups and treatment sites. Several factors appear to be predictive of receiving group therapy, with the treatment site being a major influence. However, group therapy as a whole offered little explanation of differences in the outcomes studied.

CONCLUSIONS

Group therapy is commonly used in TBI rehabilitation, to varying degrees among disciplines, sites, and cognitive impairment subgroups. Various therapeutic activities take place in group therapy, indicating its perceived value in addressing many domains of functioning. Variation in outcomes is not explained well by overall percentage of therapy time delivered in groups.