Effect of a social work liaison program on family caregivers to people with brain injury

Objective: We assessed the effect of a social work liaison program on caregiver outcomes for families caring for people with brain injury. Design: All telephone calls received by the team were entered into a standardized log form to record topics raised by caregivers. Main Outcome Measures: We compared the experience of this cohort of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caregivers with the experience of an earlier cohort by use of standard measures of caregiver mental health. Because patients in the cohort had mixed etiologies, we also examined the experience of caregivers according to type of brain injury, comparing cerebrovascular accident with TBI patients. Results: The social work liaison program offered benefit to caregivers on burden, satisfaction, and mastery outcomes. Conclusions: This research suggests that a relatively low-cost, nonintensive intervention may offer substantial benefit to families caring for people with brain injury.