Research: Students with concussions to get mentorship support
To support college students with concussions, Katy O’Brien, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education, received a $200,000 grant from Andee’s Army to develop and test a peer mentoring program.
The Success in College after Concussion with Effective Student Supports (SUCCESS) program serves colleges and universities in the Atlanta area by pairing mentors, who have sustained concussions and successfully recovered, with newly injured mentees. This fall, O’Brien will bring the program to the University of Georgia.
“One in 75 students experiences a concussion while in college,” said O’Brien, co-principal investigator of the study with Tracey Wallace, a clinician researcher at the Shepherd Center. “Mentoring provides one-to-one support from a peer, sharing knowledge, and social support. A recent review of peer mentoring found benefits to mood, behavioral control, and coping from such interventions.”