People who experience disorders of consciousness (DoC) following a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) have complex rehabilitation needs addressed by occupational therapy. To examine the effectiveness of interventions to improve arousal and awareness of people with DoC following a TBI. For this systematic review, we followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched six databases in collaboration with a research librarian. Twenty-seven studies were included and grouped thematically. Multimodal sensory stimulation, familiar voices telling structured stories, and transcranial direct current stimulation had a moderate level of evidence. Multimodal sensory stimulation had the strongest evidence in support of its use in clinical practice. Occupational therapy practitioners should administer multimodal stimuli frequently as studies reported administering these interventions at least twice daily. Occupational therapy practitioners should incorporate personally relevant, meaningful, salient stimuli into interventions when treating patients with DoC.
Brain Injuries, Traumatic , Brain Injuries , Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation , Humans , Consciousness , Brain Injuries/rehabilitation , Consciousness Disorders/etiology , Consciousness Disorders/rehabilitation
Systematic Review Briefs provide a summary of the findings from systematic reviews developed in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association's Evidence-Based Practice Program. Each Systematic Review Brief summarizes the evidence on a theme related to a systematic review topic. This Systematic Review Brief presents findings from the systematic review on the effectiveness of mobility interventions to improve arousal and awareness in people with disorders of consciousness following a traumatic brain injury.
Brain Injuries, Traumatic , Occupational Therapy , Brain Injuries, Traumatic/complications , Consciousness , Evidence-Based Practice , Humans
Systematic Review Briefs provide a summary of the findings from systematic reviews developed in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association's Evidence-Based Practice Program. Each Systematic Review Brief summarizes the evidence on a theme related to a systematic review topic. This Systematic Review Brief presents findings from the systematic review on the effectiveness of noninvasive nerve stimulation to improve arousal and awareness in people with disorders of consciousness following a traumatic brain injury.
Brain Injuries, Traumatic , Occupational Therapy , Arousal , Consciousness , Evidence-Based Practice , Humans
Systematic Review Briefs provide a summary of the findings from systematic reviews developed in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association's Evidence-Based Practice Program. Each Systematic Review Brief summarizes the evidence on a theme related to a systematic review topic. This Systematic Review Brief presents findings from the systematic review on the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy to improve arousal and awareness for people with disorders of consciousness following a traumatic brain injury.
Animal Assisted Therapy , Brain Injuries, Traumatic , Occupational Therapy , Animals , Brain Injuries, Traumatic/complications , Consciousness , Evidence-Based Practice , Humans
Systematic Review Briefs provide a summary of the findings from systematic reviews developed in conjunction with the American Occupational Therapy Association's Evidence-Based Practice Program. Each Systematic Review Brief summarizes the evidence on a theme related to a systematic review topic. This Systematic Review Brief presents findings from the systematic review on the effectiveness of sensory stimulation interventions to improve arousal and awareness in people with disorders of consciousness following a TBI.
Brain Injuries, Traumatic , Occupational Therapy , Arousal , Consciousness , Evidence-Based Practice , Humans
Occupational therapy's focus on functional cognition offers a distinct approach to the assessment of and intervention for occupational performance deficits that may follow coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although the majority of people survive COVID-19, many people experience persistent functional cognitive sequelae severe enough to interfere with occupational performance. After COVID-19, people may be categorized as either (1) those who experience severe or critical illness requiring hospitalization or (2) those with mild to moderate presentations of the virus without hospitalization. A third group of those who do not have ongoing signs of active infection but who experience new, lasting, or deteriorating symptoms has begun to emerge and may represent a distinct COVID-19 long-haul syndrome. By following the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework and using established processes for occupational therapy assessment and treatment of functional cognition, occupational therapy practitioners can tailor assessments and interventions to meet clients' needs.
COVID-19 , Cognitive Dysfunction , Occupational Therapy , Cognition , Cognitive Dysfunction/etiology , Humans , SARS-CoV-2
This article presents the current status of integrating 3-dimensional motion analysis and electromyography to assess upper extremity function clinically. The authors used their approach to establish a normative database for 5 Shriners Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation tasks, which provides ranges of motion at the point of task achievement. Also, the inter-joint correlations are provided to understand the movement coordination required for each task. Distal upper extremity motion is strongly related to proximal function, supporting the idea that treatment of the proximal upper extremity deficits may be best preceded by treatment of the more distal upper extremity segments.
Computer Simulation , Electromyography , Imaging, Three-Dimensional , Muscle Spasticity/physiopathology , Upper Extremity/physiopathology , Biomechanical Phenomena/physiology , Clinical Decision-Making , Disability Evaluation , Humans
