It can be estimated that greater than one million adults within the UK are presently

It can be estimated that greater than one million adults within the UK are presently living together with the long-term consequences of brain injuries (Headway, 2014b). Prices of ABI have improved considerably in current years, with estimated increases more than ten years ranging from 33 per cent (Headway, 2014b) to 95 per cent (HSCIC, 2012). This raise is as a consequence of various components such as improved emergency response following injury (Powell, 2004); extra cyclists interacting with heavier traffic flow; increased participation in unsafe sports; and larger numbers of incredibly old individuals within the population. According to Good (2014), one of the most prevalent causes of ABI in the UK are falls (22 ?43 per cent), assaults (30 ?50 per cent) and road targeted traffic accidents (circa 25 per cent), though the latter category accounts for any disproportionate number of more severe brain injuries; other causes of ABI consist of sports injuries and domestic violence. Brain injury is far more popular amongst men than women and shows peaks at ages fifteen to thirty and over eighty (Good, 2014). International information show similar patterns. For instance, inside the USA, the Centre for Illness Manage estimates that ABI affects 1.7 million Americans every year; young children aged from birth to 4, older teenagers and adults aged more than sixty-five possess the highest prices of ABI, with males additional susceptible than girls across all age ranges (CDC, undated, Traumatic Brain Injury in the Usa: Truth Sheet, out there on the net at www.cdc.gov/ traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html, accessed December 2014). There is certainly also escalating awareness and concern in the USA about ABI amongst military personnel (see, e.g. Okie, 2005), with ABI prices reported to exceed onefifth of combatants (Okie, 2005; Terrio et al., 2009). Whilst this article will concentrate on existing UK policy and practice, the issues which it highlights are relevant to lots of national contexts.Acquired Brain Injury, Social Perform and PersonalisationIf the causes of ABI are wide-ranging and unevenly distributed across age and gender, the impacts of ABI are similarly diverse. Some people make a great recovery from their brain injury, while other folks are left with considerable ongoing issues. Furthermore, as buy PD173074 Headway (2014b) cautions, the `initial diagnosis of severity of injury isn’t a trustworthy indicator of long-term problems’. The potential impacts of ABI are nicely described both in (non-social perform) academic literature (e.g. Fleminger and Ponsford, 2005) and in private accounts (e.g. Crimmins, 2001; Perry, 1986). However, provided the restricted focus to ABI in social work literature, it is worth 10508619.2011.638589 listing a few of the common after-effects: physical issues, cognitive issues, impairment of executive functioning, modifications to a person’s behaviour and adjustments to emotional regulation and `personality’. For a lot of people today with ABI, there will likely be no physical indicators of impairment, but some could expertise a range of physical troubles including `loss of co-ordination, muscle rigidity, paralysis, epilepsy, difficulty in speaking, loss of sight, smell or taste, fatigue, and sexual problems’ (Headway, 2014b), with fatigue and headaches becoming particularly typical soon after cognitive activity. ABI may well also lead to cognitive difficulties such as problems with journal.pone.0169185 memory and reduced speed of info processing by the brain. These physical and cognitive elements of ABI, while difficult for the person concerned, are relatively uncomplicated for social workers and others to conceptuali.