It can be estimated that more than one million adults within the UK are currently

It can be estimated that more than one million adults within the UK are currently living together with the long-term consequences of brain injuries (Headway, 2014b). Prices of ABI have enhanced significantly in recent years, with estimated increases over ten years ranging from 33 per cent (Headway, 2014b) to 95 per cent (HSCIC, 2012). This enhance is resulting from many different variables which includes enhanced emergency response following injury (Powell, 2004); extra cyclists interacting with heavier traffic flow; enhanced participation in harmful sports; and bigger numbers of really old individuals inside the population. As outlined by Nice (2014), by far the most popular causes of ABI in the UK are falls (22 ?43 per cent), assaults (30 ?50 per cent) and road traffic accidents (circa 25 per cent), even though the latter category accounts for a disproportionate quantity of far more severe brain injuries; other causes of ABI consist of sports injuries and domestic violence. Brain injury is a lot more popular amongst males than girls and shows peaks at ages fifteen to thirty and over eighty (Good, 2014). International data show related patterns. For example, inside the USA, the Centre for Disease Handle estimates that ABI affects 1.7 million Americans each year; children aged from birth to four, older teenagers and adults aged over sixty-five possess the highest prices of ABI, with men much more susceptible than ladies across all age ranges (CDC, undated, Traumatic Brain Injury within the Usa: Truth Sheet, obtainable on the internet at www.cdc.gov/ traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html, accessed December 2014). There is also increasing awareness and concern within 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). While this article will focus on current UK policy and practice, the issues which it highlights are relevant to many national contexts.Acquired Brain Injury, Social Operate and PersonalisationIf the causes of ABI are wide-ranging and unevenly distributed across age and gender, the impacts of ABI are similarly diverse. A lot of people make a good recovery from their brain injury, whilst other folks are left with important ongoing difficulties. Furthermore, as Headway (2014b) cautions, the `initial diagnosis of severity of injury is not a trusted indicator of long-term problems’. The possible impacts of ABI are properly described each in (non-social function) academic literature (e.g. Fleminger and Ponsford, 2005) and in personal accounts (e.g. Crimmins, 2001; Perry, 1986). Having said that, given the limited consideration to ABI in social work literature, it really is worth 10508619.2011.638589 listing some of the common after-effects: physical troubles, cognitive troubles, impairment of executive functioning, modifications to a person’s behaviour and adjustments to emotional regulation and `personality’. For a lot of individuals with ABI, there might be no physical indicators of impairment, but some might knowledge a range of physical difficulties including `loss of co-ordination, muscle rigidity, paralysis, Stattic web epilepsy, difficulty in speaking, loss of sight, smell or taste, fatigue, and sexual problems’ (Headway, 2014b), with fatigue and headaches being specifically typical following cognitive activity. ABI may well also trigger cognitive issues for instance troubles with journal.pone.0169185 memory and lowered speed of information processing by the brain. These physical and cognitive aspects of ABI, while difficult for the person concerned, are fairly quick for social workers and other people to conceptuali.