Phase IV Study of Cognitive Rehabilitation Effectiveness for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

This is a prospective, randomized, control treatment trial of cognitive rehabilitation for OEF/OIF Service Members with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and persistent (3-24 months post-injury) cognitive complaints. Subjects will be recruited from consecutive patient referrals to the TBI Service at SAMMC-North. Patients who meet eligibility criteria and consent to participate in the treatment trial will be randomly assigned to one of four, 6-week treatment arms of the study: 1. Psychoeducational control group; 2. Non-therapist directed, computerized cognitive rehabilitation; 3. Therapist-directed individualized cognitive rehabilitation; and 4. Integrated interdisciplinary cognitive rehabilitation combined with cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. (Components of the treatment arms are described in detail in section 4.6; Research Design and Methods.) All subjects enrolled in the study will receive the standard of care in management of chronic post-concussive symptoms, consistent with the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Concussion/mild TBI (Barth et al., 2009), regardless of treatment assignment. The standard of care includes provision of patient education materials (adapted from existing studies to address more persistent rather than acute symptom management), regular scheduled follow-up with a medical provider every three weeks, and symptom-based treatment of post-concussive complaints (e.g., medication trials for headache and co-occurring psychiatric disorders, physical therapy for vestibular complaints, case management, and supportive counseling with social work for soldiers assigned to the Warriors-in-Transition Battalion). Study participants who are assigned to treatment arms 2, 3, or 4 will additionally receive manualized cognitive rehabilitation therapies during the 6-week treatment phase of the study. Cognitive rehabilitation treatment intensity (i.e., number of hours of treatment per week) will be matched for individuals assigned to treatment arms 2, 3, or 4. Participants assigned to the control treatment group (treatment arm 1) will be offered individualized cognitive rehabilitation therapy if their cognitive complaints do not abate following the completion of the six-week treatment trial.

Study participants will be evaluated prior to the initiation of treatment, as well as at 3-weeks, 6-weeks, 12-weeks, and 18-weeks following the start of treatment. Study evaluators will be blind to treatment assignment. Pre-treatment baseline assessments and peri-/post-treatment outcome assessments will include demographic information, injury-related variables, self-report inventories, performance on neuropsychological testing, and functional status (e.g., work status; healthcare utilization). Detailed descriptions of the data to be collected including primary and secondary outcome measures, as well as co-variate measures can be found in section 4.8: Instrumentation.