Ability to manage everyday technology after acquired brain injury

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate and describe how persons with an acquired brain injury (ABI) manage everyday technology (ET) in their daily activities and to explore whether the ability to manage ET was related to the severity of the disability.

Method: Eighty-one persons with ABI were observed while managing ET by using the Management of Everyday Technology Assessment (META). The Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOSE) was used to assess the severity of disability after the ABI. A computer application of a Rasch measurement model was used to generate measures of the participants’ ability to manage ET and the measures were compared groupwise with analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Results: The degree of severity of disability had a significant main effect on the ability to manage ET. The groups with severe and moderate disability exhibited a significantly lower ability to manage ET compared to the group with good recovery.

Conclusion: The result indicates that the ability to manage ET in daily activities can be related to the global severity of disability after ABI. This demonstrates the importance of considering the ability to manage ET to support the performance of activities at home, at work and in society in persons with ABI.

• Assessment and outcome
• brain injuries
• technology

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the participants who chose to participate in the study and generously demonstrated their abilities to manage ET. Also, our thanks go to professionals from the County Council of Norrbotten: Ann-Sofi Nilsson for support with the selection of participants, the occupational therapists Kristina Johansson and Anita Leven for support with the data collection and the statistician Robert Lundqvist for support with the statistical analysis. We also want to thank Associated Professor Anders Kottorp at Karolinska Institutet for support with the Rasch analysis. The study received economic support from Norrbotten County Council, Luleå University of Technology, Promobilia Foundation and the Strategic Research Health Care Programme of Umeå University.