Safety Awareness

SKILL: Executive Function

DIFFICULTY: 2/5

LEVELS: None

BRIEF RATIONALE: This treatment addresses reasoning and problem-solving to promote safety awareness.

In Safety Awareness, you will select categories of practical safety problems. Categories include: fall prevention, fire prevention, travel safety, and health & safety.


Then, you will follow a simple 4-step sequence to work through each unsafe situation:

  1. RECOGNIZE: You will see a safe and unsafe picture. Identify the unsafe situation.
  2. REASON: Say why the picture is unsafe. Check your answer and use the self-scoring buttons.
  3. REFLECT: Think about your experience with the situation.
  4. RESOLVE: Say how you would prevent or address the situation. Check your answer and use the self-scoring buttons.

FOR THE CLINICIAN:

Problem-solving may no longer be an automatic process after a brain injury, so it's important to address it in therapy. A structured approach is ideal because it facilitates learning, which is why we have an easy-to-follow sequence in this treatment.


Problem-solving training usually involves the following steps:

  1. Recognizing and focusing on a problem (RECOGNIZE)
  2. Defining what the problem is (REASON)
  3. Listing potential solutions and choosing the best option (RESOLVE)

The REFLECT step was included before the Resolve step because learning from past experiences can guide patients to ideas that maximize problem-solving abilities (Baddie, 1991). It is meant as a thought-provoking prompt, which is why it is not scored.


The steps in this sequence can be applied to a variety of situations besides safety, so teach your patients the 4 R's when they encounter a problem in daily life.


Selected References:

  1. Badie, K. (1991). A Systematic Approach to Learning from Past Experiences in Diagnostic Problem-Solving Environment. In: Jackson, M.C., Mansell, G.J., Flood, R.L., Blackham, R.B., Probert, S.V.E. (eds) Systems Thinking in Europe. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3748-9_22
  2. Cantor J, Ashman T, Dams-O’Connor K, et al. Evaluation ofthe short-term executive plus intervention for executive dysfunction aftertraumatic brain injury: a randomized controlled trial with minimization. ArchPhys Med Rehabil. 2014
  3. Gordon, W. A., Cantor, J., Ashman, T., & Brown, M.(2006). Treatment of post-TBI executive dysfunction. Journal of HeadTrauma Rehabilitation, 21(2), 156–167.https://doi.org/10.1097/00001199-200603000-00008 
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