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Traumatic Brain Injury Research Paper

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A Global Perspective: Working with Veterans
Recovering from Traumatic Brain Injury
An expanding area of occupational therapy (OT) practice that I have considerable interest in is the rehabilitation of veterans who have suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The field of occupational therapy made considerable advances and experienced a boom in theory advancement internationally following World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War when servicemen were returning with considerable physical and cognitive disabilities (Peloquin & Punwar, 2000). Unable to financially contribute to their households, as well as socially readapt, veterans were in need of professionals who could provide new avenues of productivity, as well as strategies for daily …show more content…

The treatment of military veterans in the United States, following a return from service, falls to a network of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals where occupational therapy practitioners are employed in both inpatient and outpatient settings. This means that a veteran who has suffered a TBI could begin to receive occupational therapy treatment as soon as they awaken from a coma or as soon as they are admitted for treatment. As with most TBI rehabilitation settings, the VA hospitals compile a multidisciplinary group of professionals to comprise a client’s treatment team. Depending on the severity and exact nature of a veteran’s injury, the treatment team could include any number of the following individuals: an occupational therapist, speech therapist, recreational therapist, psychologist, physiatrist, psychiatrist, and a doctor. Often those military veterans being treated in a Veterans Affairs hospital for a TBI have also experienced other injuries of a physical and psychological nature, ranging from amputations to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is the traumatic brain injury, however, that seems to open …show more content…

Occupational therapy, however, remains underutilized internationally in the treatment of military personnel who have sustained a TBI. In the United Kingdom (UK), there has been notable research and emphasis on treating the mental health of veterans, tied to this is the high incidence of depression following a TBI. Much like the United States, the UK is heightening its attention to veteran mental health. Occupational therapists within the UK are directing much of their treatment to addressing PTSD after combat in an effort to significantly reduce suicide rates among military personnel. Using a client-centered approach, British occupational therapists work with veterans to “support post-traumatic growth, build social support and a sense of connectedness with their community” (Murtagh). This approach mirrors that of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF), a cornerstone of occupational therapy in the United States

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