Dr Maggie Killington’s innovative research into the impact of Acquired Brain Injury.
Dr Maggie Killington (right), Coordinator of Research at South Australia Brain Injury Rehabilitation Services meets with Dean Fyfe (left) and Cheryl Mason (middle).
Supporting families living with brain injury.
This study provided many insights from children and their families and a number of recommendations which the researchers hope to implement with support from Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) and Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre (HRC) clinicians.
“We found that sadly clinicians are not well-equipped to talk to children about the injury that has been sustained, and the non-injured parent is not receiving sufficient information on how to support their children,” she said.
Maggie says that the impact on children cannot be underestimated.
“It has been reported that 46% of children with parental ABI have high levels of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and 92% of families reported problematic behaviours,” she said.
The project will focus on three key outcomes; developing resources and technology by working with Flinders University, College of Nursing and Health Sciences that will provide information and support to families; to test suitability of the resources and finally, undertake an efficacy study. Throughout this process, Dr Killington will work closely with RAH and HRC staff to ensure knowledge transfer to clinicians within RAH and Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN).
To make your own contribution towards this vital research into helping support families coping with brain injury, please support the RAH Research Fund and Maggie Killington’s research.