Graded Exposure Therapy for Fear Avoidance Behaviour After Concussion

Overview

Concussions are very common. Although many people recover well from concussion, some will have persistent symptoms and difficulties with daily activities. How people cope with their symptoms following concussion powerfully influences their recovery. Fear avoidance behaviour is a particularly unhelpful approach to coping, in which people perceive their pre-injury activities as unnecessarily dangerous and take great care to avoid overexertion and overstimulation. The investigators developed and pilot tested a behavioural therapy, called graded exposure therapy, to reduce fear avoidance behaviour. Our preliminary work suggested that graded exposure therapy was acceptable to patients with concussion and possibly beneficial for their recovery. The GET FAB after concussion study will assess the effectiveness of graded exposure therapy.

GET FAB is a multisite randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate a behavioural treatment (graded exposure therapy) for adults with persistent symptoms after concussion. Participants in this study will be recruited from a network of concussion clinics in Canada. This study follows from the investigators' prior work establishing that (1) fear avoidance behaviour is a risk factor for poor concussion outcome, (2) graded exposure therapy reduces fear avoidance behaviour, and (3) graded exposure therapy is perceived as credible and is well-tolerated by patients with persistent post-concussion symptoms. Participants will be assigned at random (in a 1:2:2 ratio) to receive enhanced usual care, graded exposure therapy group, or another therapy that might have similar benefits (prescribed aerobic exercise). The investigators hypothesize that patients who participate in graded exposure therapy will have reduced fear avoidance behaviour and improved daily functioning compared to other treatment conditions and this difference will be greatest for patients who enter the study with high fear avoidance behaviour.