Dr. Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo, Director for the AQUASS Lab, recently hosted two visitors from Cambodia at the research site of the HBOT for TBI Study at USF Health. Dr. Campbell-Montalvo is also the PI for the Information and Attitudes about HBOT (IA-HBOT) medical anthropology substudy within the larger randomized clinical trial examining HBOT for Veterans with mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury. The visitors included Dr. Bunna Phoeun, a clinical psychologist with extensive experience in trauma treatment, as well as his wife, Bunnary Bo.
Dr. Phoeun is currently serving as a postdoctoral scholar for Dr. Elena Lesley, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and a member of the IA-HBOT Scientific Team. Drs. Lesley and Phoeun are collaborating on a research project related to assessing the efficacy of digital mental health interventions in low-resource settings.
Dr. Phoeun was particularly interested in the potential uses of HBOT for traumatic brain injury among Veterans, given significant rates of TBI among survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime and surrounding years of conflict in Cambodia, as well as the relationship of TBI to diagnoses such as depression and PTSD. In addition, several hundred thousand Cambodians served in the armed forces throughout the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975), the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) and the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1989) eras. Healthcare services for veterans in Cambodia remain limited.
Dr. Phoeun praised the study’s potential to “advance the scientific understanding of HBOT and other supportive approaches” while informing strategies to enhance “recovery and wellbeing among individuals affected by TBI and trauma-related disorders.”
He also noted the qualitative robustness provided by the medical anthropology substudy and how “findings for the social elements of healing” could have particular relevance in low-resource settings such as Cambodia.