It is actually estimated that greater than a single million adults within the UK are currently living with all the long-term consequences of brain injuries (Headway, 2014b). Rates of ABI have enhanced significantly in current years, with estimated increases more than ten years ranging from 33 per cent (Headway, 2014b) to 95 per cent (HSCIC, 2012). This improve is resulting from many different factors like enhanced emergency response following injury (Powell, 2004); more cyclists interacting with heavier website traffic flow; enhanced participation in dangerous sports; and larger numbers of pretty old people today inside the population. In accordance with Good (2014), probably the most widespread causes of ABI inside the UK are falls (22 ?43 per cent), assaults (30 ?50 per cent) and road site visitors accidents (circa 25 per cent), even though the latter category accounts to get a disproportionate quantity of more extreme brain injuries; other causes of ABI involve sports injuries and domestic violence. Brain injury is additional common amongst men than ladies and shows peaks at ages fifteen to thirty and more than eighty (Nice, 2014). International information show comparable patterns. By way of example, inside the USA, the Centre for Disease Manage estimates that ABI affects 1.7 million Americans each and every year; young children aged from birth to 4, older teenagers and adults aged over sixty-five possess the highest prices of ABI, with men additional susceptible than females across all age ranges (CDC, undated, Traumatic Brain Injury within the Usa: Fact Sheet, accessible online at www.cdc.gov/ traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html, accessed December 2014). There is also rising awareness and concern inside 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 short article will concentrate on current UK policy and practice, the issues which it highlights are relevant to numerous national contexts.Acquired Brain Injury, Social Work and PersonalisationIf the causes of ABI are wide-ranging and unevenly distributed across age and gender, the impacts of ABI are similarly diverse. Many people make a fantastic recovery from their brain injury, while other people are left with significant ongoing difficulties. Moreover, as Headway (2014b) cautions, the `initial diagnosis of severity of injury is not a reliable indicator of long-term get GSK343 problems’. The possible impacts of ABI are effectively described each in (non-social work) academic literature (e.g. Fleminger and Ponsford, 2005) and in private accounts (e.g. Crimmins, 2001; Perry, 1986). On the other hand, given the restricted focus to ABI in social work literature, it is actually worth 10508619.2011.638589 listing some of the popular after-effects: physical troubles, cognitive issues, impairment of executive functioning, alterations to a person’s behaviour and changes to emotional regulation and `personality’. For many folks with ABI, there will likely be no physical indicators of impairment, but some may well encounter a array of physical issues such as `loss of co-ordination, muscle rigidity, paralysis, epilepsy, difficulty in speaking, loss of sight, smell or taste, fatigue, and sexual problems’ (Headway, 2014b), with fatigue and headaches getting particularly typical immediately after cognitive activity. ABI could also lead to cognitive difficulties such as GSK-J4 web troubles with journal.pone.0169185 memory and decreased speed of info processing by the brain. These physical and cognitive elements of ABI, while difficult for the person concerned, are fairly straightforward for social workers and other people to conceptuali.It can be estimated that more than a single million adults inside the UK are at the moment living with the long-term consequences of brain injuries (Headway, 2014b). Prices of ABI have increased significantly in recent years, with estimated increases over ten years ranging from 33 per cent (Headway, 2014b) to 95 per cent (HSCIC, 2012). This increase is as a result of a range of factors including improved emergency response following injury (Powell, 2004); a lot more cyclists interacting with heavier website traffic flow; improved participation in harmful sports; and larger numbers of pretty old people within the population. In accordance with Nice (2014), the most popular causes of ABI inside the UK are falls (22 ?43 per cent), assaults (30 ?50 per cent) and road website traffic accidents (circa 25 per cent), even though the latter category accounts for any disproportionate variety of extra severe brain injuries; other causes of ABI include things like sports injuries and domestic violence. Brain injury is additional common amongst guys than girls and shows peaks at ages fifteen to thirty and more than eighty (Nice, 2014). International information show comparable patterns. For instance, in the USA, the Centre for Illness Control estimates that ABI affects 1.7 million Americans every single year; children aged from birth to four, older teenagers and adults aged more than sixty-five possess the highest prices of ABI, with guys much more susceptible than ladies across all age ranges (CDC, undated, Traumatic Brain Injury within the United states: Reality Sheet, accessible on the web at www.cdc.gov/ traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html, accessed December 2014). There is certainly also increasing awareness and concern inside 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 present UK policy and practice, the problems which it highlights are relevant to several national contexts.Acquired Brain Injury, Social Perform and PersonalisationIf the causes of ABI are wide-ranging and unevenly distributed across age and gender, the impacts of ABI are similarly diverse. Many people make a fantastic recovery from their brain injury, whilst others are left with substantial ongoing issues. In addition, as Headway (2014b) cautions, the `initial diagnosis of severity of injury is not a reputable indicator of long-term problems’. The possible impacts of ABI are effectively described both in (non-social function) academic literature (e.g. Fleminger and Ponsford, 2005) and in private accounts (e.g. Crimmins, 2001; Perry, 1986). Having said that, provided the limited attention to ABI in social work literature, it’s worth 10508619.2011.638589 listing some of the common after-effects: physical troubles, cognitive difficulties, impairment of executive functioning, adjustments to a person’s behaviour and changes to emotional regulation and `personality’. For a lot of people with ABI, there will probably be no physical indicators of impairment, but some might experience a selection of physical difficulties which includes `loss of co-ordination, muscle rigidity, paralysis, epilepsy, difficulty in speaking, loss of sight, smell or taste, fatigue, and sexual problems’ (Headway, 2014b), with fatigue and headaches becoming especially common soon after cognitive activity. ABI could also cause cognitive issues for example issues with journal.pone.0169185 memory and reduced speed of information processing by the brain. These physical and cognitive elements of ABI, whilst difficult for the person concerned, are fairly quick for social workers and others to conceptuali.