CClinicalTrials.gg
Enrolling by invitationNCT04982731Updated Oct 14, 2025

Positive Assurance and mTBI

An interventional study of Positive Assurance in MTBI - Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, sponsored by Inova Health Care Services. Enrolling by invitation at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 13 Years to 21 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-10-14.

Sponsored by Inova Health Care Services · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
229
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
13 Years to 21 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

This study will develop and validate a new educational video that provides positive assurance about mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) recovery for patients with mTBI.

Read the detailed description

The research team will investigate the effect of this new Positive Assurance discharge intervention video on state anxiety and clinical recovery outcomes in patients with mTBI. A sample of adolescent and young adult patients (13-21yrs) will be recruited for participation that present with a potential mTBI diagnosis and receive specialty referral to the Inova Sports Medicine Concussion Program for follow-up care. Investigators will employ a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to enroll two groups of mTBI patients: 1) a group that receives the video intervention (EDUC), and 2) a group that receives standard discharge instructions (i.e., treatment as usual: TAU).

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Conditions studied

  • MTBI - Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Concussion, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

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03

In context

Brain Concussion

530 studies on the registry are indexed under Brain Concussion; 151 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 229 is above the median of 64 across 364 interventional studies indexed under Brain Concussion.

Browse Brain Concussion studies →

Lead sponsor

Inova Health Care Services is the lead sponsor of 84 studies on the registry; 20 are open to participants now.

Of its 10 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 8 (80%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
13 Years to 21 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Eligibility criteria

COHORT 1 (no longer being recruited):

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible to participate:

  1. 13-21 years
  2. Has sustained an external force to head or body resulting in neurological symptoms and at least one reported symptom is attributed to the mTBI (e.g., dizziness, confusion, headache, postural instability, light/noise sensitivity, nausea)
  3. Has receive a medical diagnosis of mTBI from an emergency physical at the IFH Pediatrics ED or Inova-GoHealth Urgent Care clinic within 72 hours of injury
  4. Is able to provide remote informed written consent (parent) and assent

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects who meet any of the following criteria will not be eligible to participate:

  1. Loss of consciousness > 30 minutes in conjunction with the injury
  2. Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score \< 13
  3. Has sustained a previous mTBI within the past 6 months
  4. Has a neurological disorder (e.g., epilepsy)
  5. Has a positive finding on brain imaging (e.g., CT, MRI) that suggests a severe closed head or open injury involving any structural damage or abnormality (e.g., fracture, subdural hematoma)
  6. Has a previous history of neurosurgery
  7. Does not speak English as a primary language
  8. Requires admission to the hospital
  9. Has developmental delays
  10. Prisoner
  11. Pregnant*
  12. Has been previously enrolled in the study
  13. Members of same household will not be included as they may determine their group assignment if more than one person from same household is included and assigned to different groups.

COHORT 2:

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects must meet the following criteria in order to be eligible to participate:

  1. 13-21 years
  2. Has scheduled an appointment to be evaluated at the Inova Sports Medicine Concussion Clinic for a traumatic closed head injury that has occurred within the past 30 days
  3. The time between study enrollment and the initial clinical visit is at least two days
  4. Is able to provide remote informed written consent (parent) and assent

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects who meet any of the following criteria will not be eligible to participate:

  1. Loss of consciousness > 30 minutes in conjunction with the injury
  2. Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score \< 13
  3. Has sustained a previous mTBI within the past 6 months
  4. Has a neurological disorder (e.g., epilepsy)
  5. Has a positive finding on brain imaging (e.g., CT, MRI) that suggests a severe closed head or open injury involving any structural damage or abnormality (e.g., fracture, subdural hematoma)
  6. Has a previous history of neurosurgery
  7. Does not speak English as a primary language
  8. Requires admission to the hospital
  9. Has developmental delays
  10. Prisoner
  11. Pregnant*
  12. Has been previously enrolled in the study
  13. Members of same household will not be included as they may determine their group assignment if more than one person from same household is included and assigned to different groups.

WITHDRAWAL CRITERIA (BOTH COHORTS):

1. Upon examination, if the clinical team determines that a participant did not sustain/cannot confirm a concussion, the subject will be withdrawn from the study.

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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Care provider)
Enrollment
229 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Positive Assurance Discharge Video Educational Intervention (EDUC).

    The video intervention will be administered to participants that are randomly assigned to the EDUC group. In addition, current standard of care discharge instructions will also be provided to the participant. This EDUC intervention will consist of a brief, three to five-minute informative video message from the clinical neuropsychologist at the Inova Sports Medicine Concussion Program. Participants will be instructed to view the video at least once every 24 - 48 hours prior to their visit to the concussion clinic.

    Other: Positive Assurance

  • No intervention
    Standard of Care Instructions (Treatment as Usual: TAU )

    The Acute Concussion Evaluation (ACE) Care plan in place at the Inova PED/GoHealth Urgent Care sites is the standard-of-care discharge instruction for individuals with mTBI. This care plan provides patient and caregiver education about mTBI and emphasizes the monitoring of symptoms, signs of deterioration that may warrant urgent medical attention, and encourages the patient to follow up with their physician for follow up. Participants who are randomized into the TAU group will receive this standard of care treatment in video format, however these participants will not be given a QR code to watch the intervention video.

Interventions

  • OtherPositive Assurance

    Positive assurance is a low-cost, non-pharmacological strategy commonly used by specialty clinics to manage anxiety in individuals with mTBI. Positive assurance is comprised of words of affirmation given to individuals with a medical condition by a healthcare provider that are centered on hope and positive recovery expectations (i.e., "You will recover," "This can be treated").

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Behavioral Regulation Assessment for Concussion (BRAC)

    The Behavioral Regulation Assessment for Concussion (BRAC) is a five-item, four-point Likert scale (with values ranging from '0-Never' to '5-Most of the Time') assessment for the frequency of self-reported behavioral regulation behaviors that occurred during the past seven days. Scores range from 0 to 20, with higher scores indicating a better outcome. Likert scale scores are reported for each item, with a higher score indicating greater frequency. An average score for the BRAC is the average of all the scores across the items.

    Time frame: Gathered at Baseline Visit

  2. Expectations of Recovery Scale

    The Expectations of Recovery Scale will be used to measure the effect of positive assurance on recovery. This is a seven-item scale that asks individuals to assess whether they think they will get better soon, return to usual activities/work within the next month, return to the pre-injury performance and to consider what they had been told about their injury and what those closest to them advised. Items within this scale are scored independently of each other, therefore neither higher nor lower scores indicate a better or worse outcome.

    Time frame: Gathered at Baseline Visit

Secondary outcomes

  1. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)

    The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) will be used to assess state anxiety in participants ages 15 years and older. The S-Anxiety scale (STAI Form Y-1) consists of twenty statements that are rated on a four-point Likert scale (1- not at all; 4 - very much so) that evaluate how respondents feel "right now, at this moment." The T-Anxiety scale (STAI Form Y-2) consists of twenty statements rated on a four-point Likert scale (1- almost never; 4 - almost always) that assess how people generally feel. Scores for both scales are continuous and range from 20-80, and clinical levels of state anxiety are classified with scores \>40.

    Time frame: Gathered at Baseline Visit and through study completion, an average of one month

  2. mTBI Symptoms

    The Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) will be used to assess mTBI symptoms. This measure includes 22 symptoms (e.g., headache, nausea, dizziness, etc…) that are rated by the patient on a seven-point Likert scale (e.g., 0 = mild, 6 = severe). Outcome scores for the PCSS are total number of reported symptoms (0 - 22) and total symptom severity score (0 - 132).

    Time frame: Gathered at Baseline Visit and through study completion, an average of one month

  3. Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT)

    Investigators will assess cognitive function using the Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT) computerized tool. ImPACT assesses attention, visual working memory, verbal recognition memory, reaction time, visual processing speed, numerical sequencing ability, and learning.

    Time frame: Gathered at Baseline Visit and through study completion, an average of one month

  4. Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS)

    Investigators will use the Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS) tool to assess vestibular and ocular motor impairment via patient-reported symptom provocation. The VOMS consists of the following five components: 1) smooth pursuits, 2) horizontal and vertical saccades, 3) convergence, 4) horizontal and vertical vestibular ocular reflex (VOR) and 5) visual motion sensitivity (VMS). Self-reported symptom severities (0-10) are reported with each of the five components, with higher ratings reflecting greater symptom severity.

    Time frame: Gathered at Baseline Visit and through study completion

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Study locations

1 site
  • Inova Health System
    Falls Church, Virginia 22042, United States
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 14, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04982731
Lead sponsor
Inova Health Care Services
Collaborators
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 29, 2021
Start date
Oct 15, 2021
Primary completion
Oct 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Oct 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 14, 2025

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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