Participation after acquired brain injury: Associations with everyday technology and activities in daily life

Abstract

Background: The development of the information society has led to increased use of everyday technology and changed the conditions for participation. Enabling participation in everyday life situations is an important rehabilitation goal after acquired brain injury (ABI). Identifying factors associated with individuals’ experienced participation and problems therein is therefore essential. Objective: This study aimed at exploring the relationship between perceived difficulty in everyday technology use, perceived ability in the activities of daily living (ADL), and perceived participation, and participation problems in persons with ABI. Methods: Eighty-one persons with ABI participated in the study and were assessed by the Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire, the Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire, and the ADL taxonomy. Results: Findings showed that the combined model of difficulty in everyday technology (ET) use, ADL ability, and the interaction between them explained both participation in various domains of everyday life, and also overall level of perceived participation and the perceived problems. Conclusions: The findings underscore the importance of evaluating individuals’ ability in both ET use and ADL after ABI to increase the probability of explaining these persons’ participation in desired everyday life situations and, also, for rehabilitation design.

Key words:

• rehabilitation
• participation
• occupational therapy
• everyday technology
• activities of daily living
• acquired brain injury

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to the participants for taking active part in this study. They would also like to thank the occupational therapists who collected the data from the ABI sample: Ann-Charlotte Kassberg, Kristina Johansson, and Anita Levén at the County Council of Norrbotten. The study was supported by grants from the Promobilia Foundation, the Strategic Research Programmes in Care Sciences at Umeå University, the Swedish Research Council, and Luleå University of Technology.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.