Treatment Comparison for Undergraduate College Students With Traumatic Brain Injury

Beyond the Dynamic Coaching Model: A Treatment Comparison for Undergraduate College Students With Traumatic Brain Injury

Up to 28% of undergraduate college students report a suspected history of traumatic brain injury. Following traumatic brain injury, college students fail and repeat more courses and have lower grade point averages. Further complicating this problem may be the fact that college students lack knowledge of traumatic brain injury definition, its associated symptoms, and individuals involved in post-injury management. In this project, the investigators propose to compare the use of an established treatment model (i.e., the Dynamic Coaching Model) to a novel protocol (i.e., the Apprenticeship Approach) that includes explicit instruction about traumatic brain injury in college students with this population. The investigators will use a group comparison design to examine the efficacy of this instructional component. This work incorporates findings from educational psychology and speech-language pathology (e.g., the included instructional materials adhere to the principles of adult learning). As such, this work will advance the field's basic understanding of currently recommended treatment components and will systematically examine the effects of incorporating explicit instruction into an existing treatment model.

The Dynamic Coaching Model is an established treatment approach that entails training college students with executive function impairments (e.g., those with a history of traumatic brain injury) to rely on their own executive functions in order to problem solve and reason in real-life situations requiring them to do so (e.g., taking college classes).

The Apprenticeship Approach is a novel treatment approach that incorporates explicit education about: (a) traumatic brain injury definition; (b) traumatic brain injury symptomatology; and (c) individuals who may be able to provide assistance to the individual with traumatic brain injury into the existing Dynamic Coaching Model.

This is a behavioral intervention which includes metacognitive strategy training and personalized strategy and external aid use training.

This is a behavioral intervention which includes explicit education about traumatic brain injury, its symptoms, and individuals who may provide assistance post-injury, metacognitive strategy training and personalized strategy and external aid use training.

Confidence rankings on a 5-point Likert scale for therapy task performance and functional academic task performance

Subjective rankings on a 5-point Likert scale for intervention satisfaction, likelihood to recommend intervention to a friend, and desire to continue intervention.

Inclusion Criteria: a documented history of mild, moderate, or severe traumatic brain injury no more than 36 months prior to study initiation speak English as a primary language at least 18 years of age demonstrate no barriers related to hearing, vision, reading, or technology that prevent successful experimental task completion. Exclusion Criteria: no documented history of mild, moderate, or severe traumatic brain injury injury occurred more than 36 months prior to study initiation do not speak English as a primary language are not at least 18 years of age demonstrate barriers related to hearing, vision, reading, or technology that prevent successful experimental task completion.