OSOT Assistant Professor Dr. Julia Schmidt has been awarded a Spring 2022 CIHR Project Grant for a project entitled “Peers Actively Involved in Rehabilitation: Transforming Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation (PAIR TBI),” which will evaluate the impact of peer support on the health of people living with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
PAIR TBI fills a dire need for more effective provision of services to people living with TBI: not only is TBI the leading cause of disability in Canada, but the services and programs that exist to support people living with TBI do not always answer to those people’s stated needs. PAIR TBI uses a patient-oriented participatory approach, which means that people with lived experience will contribute their expertise to the design of the research from start to finish, ensuring that it aligns with their priorities and centres on issues that they have identified as important. Peer support, which pairs someone who has longtime lived experience of a condition with someone who is relatively new to it, has been shown to positively impact people’s health in other populations, but its effectiveness has not yet been rigorously evaluated in the context of TBI.
To facilitate collaboration with people living with TBI, Dr. Schmidt and other members of her research team, which includes colleagues from the Rehabilitation Research Program based at G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre, have partnered with the BC Brain Injury Association and the Nanaimo Brain Injury Association, both of which have expressed strong support for this project. PAIR TBI aims to provide evidence for the use of peer support among people living with TBI, easing the transition from rehabilitation centres to the community, ensuring better provision of services, and, ultimately, improving the health and quality of life of people living with TBI.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Schmidt on the advancement of this important work.