Working towards consensus on the assessment of mood after severe acquired brain injury: Focus groups with UK-based professionals.

Objective: The assessment of mood after brain injury is more challenging when people have ongoing severe cognitive and receptive communication impairments. There is no gold standard on how these assessments should be undertaken. This study aimed to reach a consensus on this among specialists working with this population.

Design: Focus groups were completed using a structured nominal group technique. Groups were compared for overlapping themes and agreed processes.

Participants: Five focus groups with a total of 14 participants who work with the population of interest were completed. Participants included 12 clinical psychologists, one psychiatrist and one consultant in rehabilitation medicine.

Results: Each of the five groups reached a consensus on a process for assessing mood in this population. Results overlapped and were combined into a proposed circular and iterative model of assessment that includes: (pre) information gathering, (peri) assessment processes, and (post) treatment; with formulation being seen as a vital part of the process. Standardised measures were not recommended for use with this population. Beyond the consensus processes, three implicit themes were identified: (1) depression is different after severe brain injury, (2) overlapping tasks and roles, and (3) looking at the bigger picture.

Conclusions: A good level of consensus was achieved across the five groups on processes to follow when assessing mood when people have ongoing cognitive and receptive communication impairments after severe brain injury. We recommend that this formulation-based model be followed when assessing people in this clinical population.