The Assessment of Parent Needs Following Paediatric Traumatic Brain Injury

The paediatric version of the Family Needs Questionnaire was administered to parents of children with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) a year or more post-injury. Parents of diabetic children (DIAB) and parents of orthopaedically (ORTHO) injured children were included as control groups. Parents rated items on their importance and how well these needs have been met. The ORTHO group rated significantly fewer items as important relative to the TBI and DIAB groups (who endorsed a similar number of items). Of those items rated as important, TBI parents' needs were more likely to remain unmet relative to both the DIAB and the ORTHO groups: out of 28 items rated as important, TBI parents report that 19 needs are still unmet. DIAB and ORTHO parents more consistently reported their needs as met. Needs most often rated as unmet for TBI parents include the needs for health/medical information, professional support, community support networks, and the need to be involved in their child's care. These results present important findings for TBI rehabilitation professionals. Future studies need to investigate whether TBI parents' needs are unmet because of the lack of community resources, or if available resources do not adequately target the needs of the TBI parents.