Assessing the validity of Task Analysis as a quantitative tool to measure the efficacy of rehabilitation in brain injury.

BACKGROUND: Inpatient rehabilitation with patients who have sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI), including traumatic brain injury (TBI), focuses on improving performance in activities of daily living (ADLs). Although not studied to date in patients with ABI/TBI, Task Analysis (TA) integrates assessment and the prompting/cueing levels required to complete various tasks, with the goal to achieve effective skill acquisition and rehabilitation planning. TA has demonstrated efficacy in teaching life skills in individuals with developmental disabilities and in this study is applied to teaching ADL skills in ABI/TBI rehabilitation. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To validate the use of TA in measuring progress in teaching ADLs by comparing it with three common ADL measures: Functional Independence Measure, Barthel Index and Klein-Bell. METHODS: Twenty-four inpatients were administered the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Barthel Index (BI) and the Klein-Bell ADL Scale (KB) TA within 72 hours of admission, at 4 weeks and within 72 hours of discharge, for showering and dressing tasks. A repeated measures ANOVA compared scores across the four measures, at three time points, for both tasks. CONCLUSION: Concurrent validity of TA in measuring improvements in the ADL tasks was established. Improvements were associated with reductions in supervision and disability levels. TA was shown to be an effective evaluation and teaching strategy during rehabilitation, with demonstrated reductions in disability and supervision levels.

The relationship between coping styles and affective/behavioural symptoms among individuals with an acquired brain injury.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of combined Axis I and II emotional profiles, demographic and psychosocial variables on coping responses in an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) population using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and the Coping Response Inventory (CRI). RESEARCH DESIGN: This was a retrospective study examining the relationship between coping styles with affective, demographic and psychosocial variables using a multi-dimensional profile analysis. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Participants completed the PAI and CRI during a regular clinical visit at the ABI Program (n = 100). Profile data was divided into seven established sub-types and analysed with coping responses. Traumatic (TBI; n = 78) and non-traumatic (n = 24) brain-injured individuals comprised the sample. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Previous findings were confirmed showing that highly symptomatic patients primarily use negative coping strategies. Also, affective symptoms, gender, relationship status, perceived stress and psychosocial supports mediate the use of different negative coping responses. Interesting, anxiety-based symptoms were associated with positive responses similar to asymptomatic ABI patients. CONCLUSIONS: Coping strategies adopted by brain-injured individuals are mediated by Axis I and II symptoms as well as psychosocial support, stress, marital status and gender. As a result, this has implications for developing treatment strategies.

Evaluating change in virtual reality adoption for brain injury rehabilitation following knowledge translation.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impact of knowledge translation (KT) on factors influencing virtual reality (VR) adoption and to identify support needs of therapists. HYPOTHESES: Intervention will be associated with improvements in therapists' perceived ease of use and self-efficacy, and an associated increase in intentions to use VR. METHOD: Single group mixed-methods pre-test-post-test evaluation of convenience sample of physical, occupational and rehabilitation therapists (n=37) from two brain injury rehabilitation centres. ADOPT-VR administered pre/post KT intervention, consisting of interactive education, clinical manual, technical and clinical support. RESULTS: Increases in perceived ease of use (p=0.000) and self-efficacy (p=0.001), but not behavioural intention to use VR (p=0.158) were found following KT, along with decreases in the frequency of perceived barriers. Post-test changes in the frequency and nature of perceived facilitators and barriers were evident, with increased emphasis on peer influence, organisational-level supports and client factors. Additional support needs were related to clinical reasoning, treatment programme development, technology selection and troubleshooting. CONCLUSIONS: KT strategies hold potential for targeting therapists' perceptions of low self-efficacy and ease of use of this technology. Changes in perceived barriers, facilitators and support needs at post-test demonstrated support for repeated evaluation and multi-phased training initiatives to address therapists' needs over time. Implications for Rehabilitation Therapists' learning and support needs in integrating virtual reality extend beyond technical proficiency to include clinical decision-making and application competencies spanning the entire rehabilitation process. Phased, multi-faceted strategies may be valuable in addressing therapists' changing needs as they progress from novice to experienced virtual reality users. The ADOPT-VR is a sensitive measure to re-evaluate the personal, social, environmental, technology-specific and system-level factors influencing virtual reality adoption over time.

Using virtual reality in clinical practice: A multi-site exploratory study.

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) is a relatively new treatment tool with emerging evidence supporting its use in neurorehabilitation, although no information exists about how therapists use VR clinically. OBJECTIVE: This study's purpose was to document current practice in GestureTek VR use for inpatient acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation as a benchmark for clinicians integrating the approach into practice, and to inform future research to improve its clinical applicability. METHODS: As part of a larger study examining barriers and facilitators to VR use, participating therapists at two rehabilitation centres documented descriptive data about client demographics and VR treatment programme characteristics for 29 ABI clients on their caseloads over eight months. RESULTS: Differences between the clinical population and published research samples were apparent. Treatment characteristics and several outcomes of interest paralleled those in the literature; however, novel outcome areas were identified as research gaps. By study's end, more than half of clients' VR programmes had been discontinued, for reasons consistent with documented barriers to VR use. CONCLUSIONS: These findings can help bridge the knowledge-to-action gap by informing the design of research that has high clinical relevance, and by providing a point of reference for clinicians incorporating VR into their practices.

Factors influencing therapists' adoption of virtual reality for brain injury rehabilitation.

Virtual reality (VR) is an important emerging technology that is increasingly being introduced in health centers as a rehabilitation intervention. Quantitative research is needed to identify the factors influencing therapists' adoption of VR for brain injury rehabilitation, including barriers and facilitators to VR use, in order to inform successful implementation strategies. A measure based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB) was developed and administered to 42 therapists; early psychometric properties are reported. Mean or median composite scores and correlations were calculated for each DTPB construct. Overall, therapists had positive attitudes toward VR, perceived it as being useful, and had positive intentions to use it more in the future. The self-efficacy composite yielded the lowest scores. The most significant barrier to adoption was time, while social influences and knowledge were the primary facilitators. Future research will explore the impact of knowledge translation interventions on these mediators of VR adoption.

Profiles of emotional and behavioral sequelae following acquired brain injury: cluster analysis of the Personality Assessment Inventory.

Due to the multidimensional nature of symptom complaints within the acquired brain injury (ABI) population, emotional and behavioral profiles obtained from using comprehensive validated measures often yield more relevant information than tools that assess for symptoms of a single diagnostic disorder. The current study used the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) to detect emotional and behavioral profiles in a sample of 440 adult ABI patients. Using a rigorous three-step cluster analytic approach, seven clusters were identified, indicating that half of the sample (50%) showed clinically significant affective and behavioral symptoms typified by multiple Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Axis I and/or II features. Two of the subtypes showed severe and diverse affective symptoms but were distinguished from each other by antisocial features and substance use. Two other subtypes, with predominantly internalized presentations, were characterized by mainly depressive and somatic features, and the second by mild anxiety and cognitive disturbance. One group, predominantly externalized presentation, showed high substance use and antisocial features. The other part of the sample (50%) had no significant affective or behavioral complaints but were characterized by two profile types classified as essentially normal, but distinguishable by one having an increased tendency to minimize symptoms. Sex, age, marital status, education/preinjury, and vocation typified various subtypes. The identified profiles taken in the context of important demographic information can provide descriptive insight into the nature of postinjury affective and behavioral symptoms, facilitating more comprehensive conceptualization of the client's needs that can be addressed through more tailored interventions.