Western Oregon University

Project Evaluation

Outcome Data

Dissemination

Project Home

TBI Transition System:
Improving the Hospital-School Transition of Children with TBI

Evaluation of the intervention involves a three-phase research plan.

Phase I: During this development period, project staff will conduct focus groups and interviews with parents, hospital staff, and school personnel in several states to ensure that the intervention

• meets the needs of each group
• reaches parents of children with TBI across the spectrum of severity of injury
• incorporates features of current successful hospital-to-school transition protocols
• is flexible enough to be readily adopted by hospitals and Departments of Education in different areas of the US.

Focus groups are planned in Oregon, Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, New York, Hawaii, and Florida. In hospital focus groups and interviews we will include personnel from all departments that treat children and youth with TBI, including emergency departments. Personnel may include social workers, nursing staff, physicians, and hospital administrators—anyone who provides information to parents about their children’s post TBI functioning or makes decisions about what such information should include.

Phase II: A year-long pilot test at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, OR, will provide an opportunity to refine recruitment procedures and measures.

Phase III: In Years 3 and 4, we will evaluate the effectiveness of the transition intervention in a multi-site randomized control trial. Children treated at two hospitals (Legacy Emanuel in Portland and The Denver Children’s Hospital) will be randomly assigned to either the transition intervention or a usual care comparison group.