Brianna Crighton

Dates of involvement with the CIHR-funded Canada Paediatric mTBI Common Data Elements
(CDE) Study: August 2015-present
Role: Senior Research Assistant
Duties and Responsibilities:
1. Independently conducts assessments of children and youth (ages 6 to 18 years old) who
have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (from 2 days to 6-months post-injury).
a. Administers tests from a variety of domains in a standardized fashion:
i. Physical: e.g., balance, agility, coordination, fine motor, gross motor,
strength, endurance, neck pain, neck range of motion, cervical joint
position, vestibular-ocular functioning
ii. Physiological: e.g., resting heart rate, blood pressure
iii. Self-reported measures (child and parent): Post-concussion symptoms,
quality of life (general and specific to symptoms); physical activity
participation
iv. Emotional/behavioural/social (parent): Norm-referenced tests of social,
emotional, behavioural, and psychological functioning
b. Scores all tests, including the use of normative data
c. Enters data in a custom database. Received intensive training from the studys
national coordinators in the use of this database (REDCap).
d. Maintains files, appointment logs, and follows all lab protocols. Provides
compensation to participants.
2. Provides general information to parents and participants about concussion, including
what to expect (symptoms), reassurance about normal recovery, and providing
information (i.e., printed guidelines) about return-to-play and return-to-learn after
concussion. Recommends follow-up with family physicians as necessary.
3. Communicates with study coordinator about lab protocols, needs, concerns with
participants/families, as necessary.
4. Training: Trains and supervises new research assistants in study protocols, test
administration, scoring, and data entry. Provides clear, supportive, and corrective
feedback to trainees.
Personal Qualities and Evaluation of Performance
The CDE study is highly demanding of research assistants. It requires learning to administer a
large number of tests in a standardized and efficient way, with most appointments taking 1.5 to 2
hours. Scoring, data entry, file maintenance, and maintaining the study log book are completed
on the same day as testing and add to the considerable time and training demands for research
assistants.
Starting in her role as a volunteer research assistant, she was dedicated in attending multiple,
lengthy training sessions. She simultaneously balanced a full class schedule, other volunteer
work, and a demanding job. I have been incredibly impressed by Briannas ability to very

quickly learn the studys protocol with a high degree of fidelity. I suspect that Briannas
competence is related to her high degree of conscientiousness and organization. For example,
she distinguished herself in preparing for training in advance by reading the lengthy study
manual and individual test manuals. In addition, she seemed unflappable and enthusiastically
jumped in during training sessions to practice test administration, despite the considerable
performance requirements (i.e., practicing new skills in front of a post-doctoral fellow and PhD
student). Brianna was hired as a paid research assistant because of her clear competence in
independently carrying out study activities. She has continued to be highly reliable and
conscientious. For example, she has never been late or canceled an appointment with a
participant. She is also prompt and clear in communicating with the study coordinator and with
other research assistants.
Interpersonally, Brianna is gentle and patient with the children, youth, and parents who
participate in our study. She possesses a rare brand of professionalism, balancing her calm, easygoing nature with a quiet self-confidence. Particularly impressive was her ability to receive
constructive feedback non-defensively during training, and to quickly incorporate this feedback
into her work. She demonstrates genuine compassion and remains calm, even when faced with
challenging situations and time pressures. For example, while testing a preadolescent participant
who was irritable, Brianna was able to establish solid rapport by gently providing encouragement
and praise. She is also highly attuned to the participants well-being, regularly checking with
them about increased symptoms or the need for a break. She is also skillful in providing helpful
feedback to parents about concussion recovery while maintaining appropriate boundaries around
this feedback, necessitated by ethical obligations of not providing clinical services within this
research study.
Brianna also gets along very well with the other study team members. She showed
initiative in asking to be involved in training three new research assistants, even though these
training activities are unpaid. Her ability to clearly communicate and to provide constructive
feedback to trainees has been of tremendous value. She also readily volunteers to supervise new
trainees in conducting assessments. She is incredibly encouraging and positive with her new
team members, allowing them to feel confident in their skills.
Brianna is an integral member of our team. In fact, when there was a temporary shortstaffing, she made extra efforts to accelerate her training to be able to independently conduct
assessments. She has been highly flexible, making herself available on weekends and evenings.
As a result, she considerably reduced the burden on the coordinator and on participants. She is
truly a team player. As a serious, focused student, Brianna balances a huge number of
commitments. She does so without complaint and while maintaining a constantly positive
outlook. I have no doubt about her ability to continue to use her considerable intelligence and
work ethic in managing the demands of medical school.