Problem Solving for Caregivers of Persons With Brain Injury

Family caregivers of persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have long-term demands that
tax their coping abilities and adversely affect their health and well-being. This project
will test the effectiveness of a problem-solving training program tailored to the unique
needs of family caregivers of persons with TBI. Over a 3-year period, family caregivers and
their care recipients will be recruited and randomly assigned to a problem-solving
intervention group (n=40 dyads) or a control group (n=40 dyads). Participants in the
problem-solving intervention group will receive four face-to-face problem-solving training
sessions and monthly telephone problem-solving sessions over the course of 1 year. Control
group participants will receive a handbook of educational materials and a staff member will
contact each control group participant monthly by telephone to review these materials and
other informational needs. No problem-solving training will be provided to control
participants throughout the year.

Caregivers and care recipients will be assessed at four points during their participation:
at the initial assessment, at 4 months, at 8 months, and at the completion of the 1-year
participation period. All evaluations will be conducted in the participants' homes. Measures
of problem-solving ability, caregiver burden, and adjustment (depression, health,
satisfaction with life) will be collected. Structural equation modeling and other
regression/inferential analyses will be used to determine the effects of problem solving on
caregiver adjustment over time after taking into account care recipient adjustment and
caregiver ethnicity. This project will: (1) demonstrate how specified physical and emotional
outcomes of caregivers and care recipients are related to caregiver problem-solving
abilities and how these relationships vary as a function of time; (2) evaluate the
effectiveness of a community-based, problem-solving intervention that will be delivered to
caregivers; and (3) identify caregivers and care recipients with TBI who are at risk for
adverse emotional and health outcomes.