# School Transition After Traumatic Brain Injury (STATBI):  Evaluating the Impact of Participation in a Formal Return-to-School Program for K-12 Students

> **NIH ALLCDC U01** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $543,881

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Every day in the United States, nearly 2,000 children under 14 years visit emergency departments with a
traumatic brain injury (TBI). Despite the high incidence of negative long-term academic, social, and behavioral
challenges experienced by children with TBI, few of these children receive appropriate educational supports at
school. Return to school (RTS) programs that aim to assist children with TBI vary widely by state, and no
existing RTS program has been systematically evaluated to determine its impact on students. The overall
objective of this project is to rigorously evaluate the impact of a formal RTS program on outcomes for students
in grades K-12 who have experienced TBI of any severity, compared to students who have no formal RTS
programming. The hypothesis is that students who receive formal RTS services will demonstrate better
academic, social, and health outcomes than students who do not receive these same services. The rationale
for this research is that in order to make recommendations to guide public policy, we must improve our
understanding of which specific components of a RTS program are most effective in improving outcomes for
students with TBI. Comparing outcomes of students who receive formal RTS services to those who do not will
provide us with valuable information about the effectiveness of comprehensive service provision for students
with TBI. This study will prospectively evaluate the academic, social, and health outcomes of a group of 450
students with TBI who receive formal RTS services and a comparator cohort sample of 308 students who
receive variable services (Aim 1). Students and caregivers will complete multiple measures and a family
interview four times within the first year after injury, and again at year two and three. Additionally, using semi-
structured focus groups and satisfaction surveys, researchers will evaluate service utilization, adherence to
recommendations, and engagement with stakeholders between the two groups of students (Aim 2). The results
of this work will provide, for the first time, a systematic comparison of outcomes for students with TBI who
receive services through a formal RTS program and students who receive variable services. Ultimately,
findings from this study will demonstrate the effectiveness of a structured, formalized RTS program on health,
academic, and social outcomes for students in grades K-12 who sustain a TBI of any severity. The innovation
of our design mitigates current challenges to creating best practices for RTS after TBI by evaluating the
immediate and longer-term outcomes of students who receive formal RTS services compared to a
demographically similar group of students with TBI who receive variable services.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10022288
- **Project number:** 5U01CE003164-02
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Angela Hein Ciccia
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $543,881
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-30 → 2023-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10022288

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10022288, School Transition After Traumatic Brain Injury (STATBI):  Evaluating the Impact of Participation in a Formal Return-to-School Program for K-12 Students (5U01CE003164-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10022288. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*