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An innovative program for Hispanic parents of children with TBI

We developed an innovative program called Brain Injury Education and outpatient care Navigation (1st BIEN) that aims to give Hispanic parents tools to help their children recover from TBIs. This program is based on our research and informed by Hispanic parents and community organizations, and by clinicians from Seattle Children’s and the University of Washington. The program is designed to:

  • Help Hispanic parents understand the unique health challenges that go along with TBIs.
  • Empower parents to participate in their child’s rehabilitation.
  • Make it easier for Hispanic children with TBIs to receive outpatient rehabilitation services by using bilingual community care coordinators to address structural barriers.

Our preliminary research suggests high levels of satisfaction among participating parents who received care coordination through our program. These parents also showed a better understanding of their child’s injury and reported higher levels of self-efficacy when caring for their child’s needs. Now funded by the NIH, we are testing 1st BIEN via a multicenter, randomized controlled clinical trial. If 1st BIEN is effective, it could serve as a model that could be applied to help families in other vulnerable populations. Learn more:

 1stBIEN Research Project for Hispanic/Latinx Families - Traumatic Brain Injury Education and Outpatient Navigation (uw.edu)

PROJECT 2b: Studying implementation of culturally tailored interventions into clinical practice settings

Current health care systems are not equipped to respond to the needs of diverse populations, yet the diversity of the patient population, especially in pediatrics, is increasing. Contextual factors play a major role in the adoption and sustainability of patient-centric navigation programs.

The goal of this diversity supplement to the 1stBIEN project, is to evaluate in real-time contextual factors in the implementation of a bicultural/bilingual navigation program for Hispanic children with traumatic brain injury. We will study factors associated to the implementation of patient-centric programs into clinical practice with an emphasis on cultural- and linguistic-responsive approaches.

Identifying institutional and community contextual barriers and facilitators can inform strategies to effectively adopt interventions aimed to Hispanic children.

Seattle Children’s complies with applicable federal and other civil rights laws and does not discriminate, exclude people or treat them differently based on race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin (ancestry), age, disability, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law. Financial assistance for medically necessary services is based on family income and hospital resources and is provided to children under age 21 whose primary residence is in Washington, Alaska, Montana or Idaho.