After
acquired brain injury (ABI) many patients suffer from persistent
cognitive and emotional disturbances. The aim of this study was to
investigate the treatment outcome of an integrated intervention,
combining neuropsychological and cognitive behavioural therapy (nCBT),
against waitlist (WL) in outpatients with ABI. Individuals seeking
outpatient treatment for cognitive and emotional problems after ABI were
randomly allocated to nCBT (n = 27) or WL (n = 29) and
completed assessments at baseline, post-treatment/WL and at six-month
follow-up. The primary outcome measures were general psychopathology and
functional activity in daily life. The nCBT group showed significant
improvement for general psychopathology post-treatment when compared to
WL. nCBT was also superior to WL regarding the secondary outcomes, i.e.,
the reduction of negative affect and the improvement of quality of
life. No significant differences for functional activity and community
integration were observed. Significant pre–post effect sizes ranged
between small for functional activity and medium for quality of life.
The positive effects were maintained at follow-up. The majority of
patients with cognitive and emotional problems after ABI benefit from an
integrated approach that offers cognitive remediation and
psychotherapy. However, the heterogeneous sequelae of ABI and the
moderate sample sizes in clinical trials present a methodological
challenge to ABI research
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