Date
Winter 4-21-2024
Program
Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Medical Sciences
Abstract
Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a prevalent neurological injury in Canada that disproportionately affects individuals from low-income communities, specifically those facing homelessness. People suffering from TBI can exhibit behavioural changes, namely violent and aggressive behaviours, some forms of which are more common in low-income communities. We sought to understand the barriers and disparities in health for low-income communities in relation to the bidirectionality of TBI and violent behaviour to propose an interdisciplinary intervention for this target population.
Methods: A systematic review was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar databases to identify relevant articles from 2019 to 2023. Published articles were included based on key terms related to TBI, the health of people facing homelessness and/or those from low-income communities, TBI in the criminal justice system, and violent behavioural interventions.
Results: A total of 44 of 680 studies were included in the final review. These papers highlighted five key emerging themes concerning TBI including homelessness, violence and aggressive behaviours, determinants of health including access to care, criminality, and victimization.
Conclusion and Next Steps: Targeted behavioural interventions post-TBI have the potential to address violent and aggressive behaviour among low-income populations, especially those facing homelessness. The absence of targeted TBI interventions in Canada highlights the urgency for a service that facilitates and streamlines access to medical care that is tailored to individual needs. We propose a comprehensive community-based TBI rehabilitation service aiming to address the challenges posed by TBI within lower socioeconomic communities through three specific areas: an interdisciplinary healthcare team, increasing access through peer support workers and language resources, and integrating trauma-informed care within the development of behavioural programs.
Acknowledgements
We want to acknowledge Dr. Hossein Noyan and the rest of the IMS team.
Creative Commons License
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