BackUp© A manual based psychotherapeutic intervention for relatives to adults with acquired brain injuries.

Objectives: Emotional distress in partners to brain injury survivors are related to or result from the life changing brain injury. These consequences may be underpinned and maintained by shame, self-criticism, disenfranchised grief alongside an inability to self-soothe. Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) was developed to address shame and self-criticism and foster the ability to self-soothe. The concepts and clinical application of CFT have yet to be explored in depth with partners to brain injury survivors. Therefore, we developed BackUp© which is a six-session manual-based short term psychological intervention for relatives to brain injury survivors. It combines elements from Compassion Focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness and Narrative perspectives adjusted to relatives.

Methods: This study is a small feasibility study of BackUp© given in an online format. Five relatives of brain injury survivors will receive an online psychological intervention according to the BackUp© programme (6 sessions). Self-report measures of quality of life (WHO5), Self-compassion (Neff-SCS) and Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) will be collected pre- and post-intervention, analyzed and compared with the general population. Moreover, an evaluating interview will be conducted with all five participants post-intervention.

Results: At the present the study is ongoing, but data collection will be completed in June and preliminary results will be presented at the conference and discussed in the light of current neurorehabilitation and the need for psychosocial interventions for relatives.