The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on engagement in activities of daily living in persons with acquired brain injury

ABSTRACT

Primary Objectives

This study examined (a) the impact of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on engagement in activity participation in persons with acquired brain injury (ABI); and (b) whether changes in activity participation during the pandemic were associated participants’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Research Design

Exploratory online survey study.

Methods

Eighty-seven respondents with ABI and 98 healthy adults (HA) participated in this study. Engagement in activity participation during COVID-19 was calculated as a percentage of the activities participants performed before the pandemic.

Main Results

Participants with ABI modified their activities less than HA in order to maintain level of engagement in activity participation. They stopped performing more activities during the pandemic compared to HA and compared to their pre-pandemic engagement. Both groups continued to do similar percentage of activities without modifications compared to before the pandemic. Better HRQoL in both groups was predicted by a larger percentage of activities continued and fewer activities stopped.

Conclusion

Results emphasize the importance of addressing activity participation changes during situations where there are disruptions of the individual’s habits and routines in order to minimize negative consequences of such changes.

KEYWORDS:

• Activities of daily living
• Community Integration
• Quality Of Life
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Stroke
• Covid-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.