Efficacy of memory rehabilitation among adolescent and adult traumatic brain injury survivors: A meta-analysis

This meta-analysis focused on evaluating the effectiveness of memory rehabilitation among adolescent and adult traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors. The injury severity levels examined were moderate and severe. This research had two primary goals: (1) quantitatively determine the magnitude and efficacy of memory rehabilitation with this population, and (2) identify the most efficacious treatment strategies for improving postinjury memory functioning, as well as the moderating variables that facilitate the rehabilitation process. The study involved synthesizing published journal articles, analyzing treatments both from an experimental/control groups comparison and a gains scores perspective. The overall effect size estimate for the experimental/control groups analysis was .47 (k = 30); the gain scores analysis resulted in an estimated effect size of .61 (k = 61). These population effect size estimates reflect a magnitude of treatment efficacy in the approximate medium and above range (Cohen, 1988), respectively. The homogeneous composition of the data synthesized, within both conditions analyzed, precluded an attempt to identify the influence of specific treatments and/or moderator variables. Recommendations for improving the quality and direction of future research were presented