Speech Pathology, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia.
Speech Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Disabil Rehabil. 2021 Jul;43(14):1955-1964. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2019.1685604. Epub 2019 Nov 7.
Rehabilitation professionals support people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to return to meaningful participation in life and society - which now includes the use of social media. However, the role of health professionals in supporting the use of social media by adults with TBI is not yet known. This study aimed to investigate the experiences and views of rehabilitation professionals on the use of social media by people with TBI during rehabilitation.
Two focus groups were conducted and analysed qualitatively for content themes.
Eleven rehabilitation professionals, including allied health, recreational therapy, and service management, took part in this study. Participants identified potential benefits to people with TBI using social media, including reduced social isolation. However, they expressed concerns about social media risks relating to the vulnerability, exploitation, and reputation management for people with TBI. Rehabilitation professionals viewed their role as being to protect people from these risks of harm, either through imposing restrictions on social media use or responding to problems after these occurred.
A knowledge translation approach might help guide and support rehabilitation professionals in enabling adults with TBI to safely access and experience the benefits of meaningful engagement in social media during rehabilitation.Implications for rehabilitationRehabilitation professionals can start addressing social media use during collaborative goal setting, in order to support people with traumatic brain injury to use social media successfully during rehabilitation and beyond. To do this, professionals can inquire as to the person's previous social media use and identify priority areas for the person for short- and long-term goals.Rehabilitation targeting social media use should include instruction for participation in social media platforms, providing education and feedback that is positive and constructive, as well as risk management education.Policy and guidance is needed for rehabilitation professionals to more actively support people with traumatic brain injury to access social media for improved participation and inclusion in online communities.Addressing social media goals in rehabilitation should be informed by existing successful traumatic brain injury rehabilitation approaches (e.g., functional rehabilitation) and adopting strategies used in rehabilitation supporting other higher risk goals (e.g., return to driving).
康复专业人员支持创伤性脑损伤（TBI）患者重新参与有意义的生活和社会活动，包括使用社交媒体。然而，健康专业人员在支持 TBI 成人使用社交媒体方面的作用尚不清楚。本研究旨在调查康复专业人员对 TBI 患者在康复期间使用社交媒体的经验和看法。
进行了两次焦点小组讨论，并对内容主题进行了定性分析。
11 名康复专业人员，包括联合健康、娱乐治疗和服务管理，参加了这项研究。参与者认为 TBI 患者使用社交媒体有潜在的好处，包括减少社交孤立。然而，他们对与 TBI 患者的脆弱性、剥削和声誉管理相关的社交媒体风险表示担忧。康复专业人员认为他们的角色是保护人们免受这些伤害风险的影响，要么通过对社交媒体使用施加限制，要么在这些问题发生后做出回应。
一种知识转化方法可能有助于指导和支持康复专业人员，使 TBI 成年人能够在康复期间安全地访问和体验有意义的社交媒体参与的好处。
康复专业人员可以在协作目标设定期间开始解决社交媒体使用问题，以便在康复期间及以后支持 TBI 患者成功使用社交媒体。为此，专业人员可以询问患者以前的社交媒体使用情况，并确定短期和长期目标的优先领域。针对社交媒体使用的康复治疗应包括参与社交媒体平台的指导，提供积极和建设性的教育和反馈，以及风险管理教育。康复专业人员需要政策和指导，以更积极地支持 TBI 患者访问社交媒体，以提高在线社区的参与度和包容性。在康复中解决社交媒体目标应参考现有的成功的 TBI 康复方法（例如，功能康复），并采用康复支持其他高风险目标（例如，恢复驾驶）中使用的策略。
