New Ways to Improve Mental Ability After Brain-Injury

How to improve cognitive function after traumatic brain injury? Use telehealth-assisted rehabilitation that promotes clinical implementation.

A rapidly growing body of evidence shows the importance and effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). A major update of the ground-breaking guidelines for cognitive rehabilitation following TBI is presented in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR).

The INCOG 2.0 guidelines for cognitive rehabilitation reflect the rapid pivot to telehealth-assisted rehabilitation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and new tools to aid in translating the updated recommendations into clinical practice.

Cognitive Rehabilitation After Traumatic Brain Injury: Persistent Challenges

Improving the practice of cognitive rehabilitation is an ongoing priority for patients with TBI, reflecting the diffuse damage to the brain networks that are essential for attention, memory, executive functions, and cognitive aspects of communication.

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‘Incorporating enhanced guidance for clinicians may support individualized cognitive interventions in traumatic brain injury patients.’

This idea came in the wake of the continuously expanding evidence base on cognitive rehabilitation after moderate to severe TBI, with more than 160 interventional studies published since the original INCOG guidelines in 2014.

In addition to the especially complex and highly individualized nature of cognitive rehabilitation, barriers remain to translating research evidence into clinical practice – contributing to significant variations in the implementation of best-practice cognitive rehabilitation.

INCOG 2.0 seeks to address these barriers by adding tools to promote clinical implementation, as part of ongoing efforts to close the "evidence-practice gap”.

Latest Evidence, New Tools to Promote Implementation

The 2022 update addresses critical issues in cognitive rehabilitation after TBI by introducing the general principles of cognitive rehabilitation, including an enhanced section on tele-rehabilitation.

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New and emerging evidence on the management of post-traumatic amnesia, including new findings on structured error-controlled and procedural learning approaches.

New approaches to executive function, including the evolving and strengthening evidence on metacognitive strategy instruction and the use of tele-rehabilitation to promote recovery.

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Revised and updated recommendations for cognitive-communication disorders. A key focus is the growing appreciation of the importance of the role of social cognition in forming and maintaining relationships after TBI.

Strategies for rehabilitation of memory impairment, which continue to be the most widely used cognitive rehabilitation interventions.

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The members of the Expert Panel reaffirm their commitment to prioritizing and continually improving advances in research and clinical practice in cognitive rehabilitation.

Recognizing the work completed, researchers hope that INCOG 2.0 is a positive step toward promoting better outcomes for those living with the effects of TBI.

Source-Eurekalert