Thesis abstract:

An acquired brain injury (ABI) during adolescence is not just an injury, but also an interruption during an incredibly active period of brain development and neuroplasticity. I’m really interested in how we can provide targeted and tailored interventions for clinicians to use with these young people, as there aren’t many evidenced-based resources to draw from currently. I’m also really interested in how we can best capture and embed lived experience perspectives into intervention programs, as research clearly underscores this an essential component for producing treatments that are meaningful and relevant to young people.

My research seeks first to investigate current interventions used with adolescents in the post-acute and chronic phases following an ABI, particularly noting any co-design processes. Next, through an iterative, collaborative process, the experiences of clinicians, adolescents with an ABI, and their families will be captured and analysed. The third stage will see our team and co-researcher teens designing and developing some treatment prototypes. And the final stage will be a pilot trial, testing out the prototypes. Our aim is that the pilot will result in validated treatment tasks that have the potential to scale to a Phase 1 clinical trial, leading to a novel treatment program for adolescents with cognitive communication deficits following an ABI, co-design with teens with lived experience of a brain injury.