SMS text messaging as a means of increasing recall of therapy goals in brain injury rehabilitation: A single-blind within-subjects trial

Abstract

A single-blind within-subjects trial was used to test the efficacy of sending SMS text messages to patients with a traumatic brain injury as a means of improving their recall of rehabilitation goals. Eleven participants were recruited from two community-based rehabilitation centres and were sent text messages relating to three randomly selected goals from a selection of six current goals three times per day for 14 days. Participants’ recall of their rehabilitation goals was assessed at baseline, seven days, and 14 days via free recall and cued recall procedures. Results showed that goals in the “text” condition were recalled better than goals in the “no text” condition. Practical applications and extensions are discussed.

Keywords:

• Goal-setting
• Traumatic brain injury
• Memory rehabilitation
• External memory aid

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all of the participants who took part in this study and to staff at the Community Treatment Centre for Brain Injury, Glasgow and the Central Scotland Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, Wishaw for their assistance with this study. We are also grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions for improvements to the manuscript, and to NHS Education for Scotland and the Sackler Foundation for financial support.