Fatigue in Acquired BRain Injured Children and young Adults (FABRICA)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring fatigue in children and young adults with acquired brain injury (ABI)
IRAS ID
273997
Contact name
Christopher Brown
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Liverpool
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 9 days
Research summary
Childhood acquired brain injury (ABI) can affect at least 300 per 100,000 children per year worldwide, often resulting in chronic disability. Fatigue is a common “hidden” disability after ABI, which can affect physical, cognitive, emotional and societal function. Clinical fatigue is poorly understood and often missed in clinics since it is invisible, difficult to measure, fluctuates, and relies on subjective report often by carers rather than the child. This study will collect exploratory qualitative data on how children and young people experience clinical fatigue, a poorly understood anecdotal co-morbid symptom.
Recruited through the neurorehabilitation unit at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and The Walton Centre, interviews will be conducted on children/young adults affected by ABI (up until the age of 25), and their wider support such as parents/caregivers, and professional services such as healthcare professionals, educators and charitable support workers. These interviews will explore clinical fatigue; other possible explanatory factors for fatigue such as pain or sleep; if there are any barriers in their day-to-day functioning, and well-being. Grounded theory will be conducted on the interviews for analysis.
Alongside these interviews, clinicians at Alder Hey Children's Hospital and The Walton Centre will offer a non-compulsory non-invasive neurological exam to the interviewed child/young adults to clinically explore the cause of their fatigue. The purpose of these examinations, along with the interview data, will create a novel merging of both the psychological and clinical aspects for children and young adults with ABI, thus creating a robust multi-disciplinary case study analysis.
The overall aim is to disseminate findings to clinicians and other healthcare professionals, educators and inform current scientific literature, in order to develop strategies for easier diagnosis, treatment and management of clinical fatigue, to improve symptoms and quality of life for children and young adults with ABI.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
20/WA/0117
Date of REC Opinion
5 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion