This is a sample project that includes the required components for a capstone.
I developed the plan for my project based on work that I did in Health and Wellness class related to the benefits of exercise for individuals with traumatic brain injury. In the EBP II class, my PICO question was about what form of aerobic exercise was most beneficial to people recovering from brain injury. <link to EBP evidence table>
Most of my lit review for EBP relateded to improvement in cardiopulmonary function and some benefits to other health indicators including weight and BMI, although those results were not as consistent. I was very interested in learning about what types of exercise might be most effective and also issues that would improve adhererence to exercise. <link short and/or longer summary paper from EBP II here>
I was very interested to see if I could find evidence to relate exercise to benefits in COGNITIVE function for people with TBI, unfortunately there is not much literature to support this yet in TBI, but there is in other populations. So, for my capstone, I did some additional reading about this to integrate into a brochure for patients and caregivers about benefits of exercise. < Link to information found on this from studies with older adults and stroke>
I decided to disseminate this information by two brochures:
1- Brain injury survivorts including residents of Learning Services in the Triangle area, participants at local TBI support groups. I learned about the population and resources available to them to make sure that my brochure was consistent with their needs. Health literacy considerations were important, since some of the clients are not well educated and have cognitive issues from their brain injury. <attached>
2- The caregiver/staff brochure had a different focus to try to help clients match their abilities to activities that are feasible and fun, have a social component and target aspects of fitness that are important for that client, while maintaining safety at the same time. <attached>
Several resources were also devised to provide a guide for each client to encourage and track fitness activity, and to share some resources that could be used at home (adaptive exercise DVDs) or simple equipment options that could be considered at low cost.
The health literacy assessment that I conducted on my materials is summarized in the attached document. I viewed the voicethreads, analyzed the language level using the tool on my computer with an aim to have the client brochure at the 6th grade level and the caregiver materials at the 12th grade level. This was harder to do than I expected. I also tried to simplify number of concepts presented, adding illustrations and some blank space so it isn’t so overwhelming. I chose not to include references on the brochures, but made them available if there is interest. Â <Health literacy assessment attached>
I sought evaluation information from my committee, staff and the therapists at Learning Services on the draft materials and again at the final from the same people plus a few clients to get feedback. Results of this feedback are tablulated on the attached file.Â