Results from a randomized trial evaluating a hospital-school transition support model for students hospitalized with traumatic brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the utility of the STEP model, a systematic hospital-school transition protocol for children hospitalized for TBI.


SETTING
Five children's hospitals in Colorado, Ohio, and Oregon.


PARTICIPANTS
Hundred families of children with mild, complicated mild, moderate, or severe TBI.


DESIGN
Randomized controlled trial (RCT); participants were randomized while hospitalized to the STEP (a standardized hospital-school transition protocol for children treated for TBI) or usual care condition.


MAIN MEASURES
Questionnaire about child's special education eligibility status, support services, and academic accommodations; Achenbach Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL); Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF); Child and Adolescent Scale of Participation (CASP); Child and Adolescent Scales of Environment (CASE) Results: There were no significant effects, indicating that STEP participants did not differ from usual care participants on any study outcome at one month post-discharge or at one-year follow-up.


CONCLUSION
The lack of significant findings in this study does not imply that effective hospital-to-school transition programming is unnecessary. Rather, the findings raise important questions regarding timing and dosage/intensity of intervention, appropriate measurement of outcomes, and fidelity of programme delivery. The study highlights difficulties involved in the conduct of community-based RCTs in the paediatric TBI population.
['Glang|Ann|A|', 'Todis|Bonnie|B|', 'Ettel|Debbie|D|', 'Wade|Shari L|SL|', 'Yeates|Keith Owen|KO|']
D000293:Adolescent D000367:Age Factors D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic D002648:Child D056344:Executive Function D005260:Female D006761:Hospitals D006801:Humans D008297:Male D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic D012189:Retrospective Studies D012572:School Health Services D012574:Schools D013334:Students D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D055815:Young Adult
hospitals child Education brain injuries/*rehabilitation disabled children/*education programme development programme evaluation school health services schools surveys and questionnaires