Computerized social cognitive training in the subacute phase after traumatic brain injury: A quasi-randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objectives

To assess the usefulness of a computerized tasks module designed for the rehabilitation of social cognition (SC) in acquired brain injury.

Methods

Quasi-randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov:NCT03479970) involving 45 patients with moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in a subacute inpatient rehabilitation hospital. The experimental group (n = 28) received treatment with a computerized SC module in combination with a non-SC module. The control group (n = 26) only received a treatment with non-SC module.

Results

Intragroup comparisons showed that the experimental group had better results for all SC measures, except for International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The control group improved for Facial Expressions of cEmotion-Stimuli and Tests (FEEST) and Moving Shapes Paradigm (MSP), showing no changes with respect to pretreatment in IAPS, MSP and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). Intergroup comparisons did not present differences between the two groups for pretreatment measures. Post-treatment comparison showed that the experimental group obtained better results for RMET than the control group.

Conclusion

The computerized SC module was useful for the rehabilitation of SC in patients with moderate-severe TBI in the subacute phase. The group that received combined rehabilitative treatment (SC + non-SC) obtained better results for SC than the group that received treatment intended only for non-SC.

Keywords:

• Rehabilitation
• social cognition
• theory of mind
• traumatic brain injury
• treatment

Disclosure statement

The GNPT^® is partly the property of Institut Guttmann. AGM, RSC, AEC, and PRR have been involved in the development of the GNPT^®.