Practical approaches to family assessment and intervention

This chapter highlights the importance of including the entire family in the long-term rehabilitation care following brain injury (BI). It explores a brief overview of the research on family functioning following BI. The chapter also explores practical strategies for assessment and intervention with the family system. Family often plays a vital role in the way that rehabilitation goes for survivors with BI. Family members are often present during acute hospitalization and some may promptly begin the role of caregiving by way of sharing information with staff to help them in caring for the patient and/or by assisting the nursing staff with hygiene and grooming needs of the patient. As the survivor’s condition is stabilized, the next stage of care may be inpatient and / or outpatient rehabilitation. Though it is difficult to delineate a specific timeline, typically the chronic stage occurs when patients obtain the majority of the neurological recovery.