• Accomplishments
• Contact

• Research
• Spinal Cord Injury Projects
• Traumatic Brain Injury Projects
  • Assessment & Intervention for Mild TBI
  • Can Eye Movements Predict Persistent Problems in Paediatric Mild TBI?
  • Cognitive and Neural Substrates of Socially Maladaptive Behaviours in Adolescents with Traumatic Brain Injury
  • DECRA Trial (DECompressive CRAniectomy Trial)
  • Enhancing Neurogenesis Post -TBI
  • Fluid Resuscitation in TBI
  • Headstart: Multi-family Groups for Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Hypothermia in Childhood TBI (HiTBIC)
  • Improving the functional communication ability of adults with TBI
  • Long term consequences of childhood head injury - 15 year follow-up
  • Longitudinal Hippocampal Study
  • Measuring the Impact of TBI on People's Lives
  • Mobility Following Childhood TBI
  • New Treatments for Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
  • Neural Basis of Communication Disorder in Children
  • Neurotrauma Tissue/Fluid Bank
  • Normoglycaemia in Intensive Care Traumatic Brain Injury Study (NICE-TBI)
  • Preventing Neuronal Cell Death Following Brain Trauma
  • Prevention and Treatment of Social Problems Following TBI
  • Rehabilitation of Attention Following TBI
  • Role of Tissue Type Plasminogen Activator
  • TBI in Older Adults
  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Treatment in Depression After Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Traumatic Hypoxia and Cerebral Inflammation
  • Virtual Reality and Upper Limb Function Following TBI in Children
• Targeted Initiatives
• Completed TBI and SCI Projects
• Program Grants

Measuring the Impact of TBI on People's Lives

Australian Harmonization and Validation of the International QOLIBRI (Quality of Life after Brain Injury) for Assessing the Quality of Life after Brain Injury

Chief Investigator: Associate Professor Graeme Hawthorne
Other Chief Investigators: Professor Andrew Kaye, Associate Professor Russell Gruen
Lead Organisation: University of Melbourne
VNI Funding: $194,820
Project Start Date: 01-Jan-07

Project Summary:
The effect of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have devastating and, in some cases, lifelong effects on peoples’ lives and their quality of life. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is accepted as an effective way to measure outcomes in people with TBI. Currently, there are no international HRQoL instruments that focus on people with TBI. The QOLIBRI (Quality of Life after Brain Injury) study is developing such an instrument. A preliminary version of this instrument has been published and is based on work undertaken within 15 countries worldwide. Australia is participating in the next study phase.

The purpose of this study is to finalise the QOLIBRI and to validate its use at both an international and local level. We will do this in two parts. In part 1 we will conduct a cross-sectional study of 60 individuals with TBI. The data collected from this cross- sectional study will be pooled with data obtained from other participating countries. The data will then be used to develop a system for defining and describing the QOLIBRI, taking into account cultural differences. The possibility for developing a short, simplified version of the QOLIBRI will also be investigated. In part 2 we plan to conduct a larger Australian study, with 200 participants. The aims of this larger study are to validate the QOLIBRI for Australian use and investigate how health related quality of life (HRQoL) recovers over time for people with TBI. Once validated, the QOLIBRI will be used worldwide, including in Australia, as the standard HRQoL outcome measure in TBI research. QOLIBRI scores will have the potential to improve the care of people with TBI by identifying areas of greatest need and by comparing the effects of different treatments.