Citation

Dowds MM, Lee PH, Sheer JB, Oʼneil-Pirozzi TM, Xenopoulos-Oddsson A, Goldstein R, Zainea KL, Glenn MB. J. Head Trauma Rehabil. 2011; 26(5): 339-347.

Affiliation

Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts (Ms Lee), Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital (Dr Sheer), Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Department, Northeastern University (Dr O'Neil-Pirozzi), Department of PM&R, Harvard Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (Ms Xenopoulos-Oddsson, and Drs Goldstein and Glenn), Assistive Technology Center, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (Ms Zainea), Boston, Massachusetts. Dr Dowds is in Independent Practice, Boston, Massachusetts.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/HTR.0b013e3181f2bf1d

PMID

21464734

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:: To determine whether automated reminders from 2 contemporary personal digital assistant (PDA) devices produce higher rates of timely task completion in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI). SETTING.: Outpatient and community rehabilitation settings. PARTICIPANTS.: Thirty-six adults aged 18 to 66 years with TBI and self-determined complaints of memory impairment. MEASURES:: Timely completion rates for assigned memory tasks under 4 randomly assigned memory aid conditions. RESULTS:: Significantly, higher completion rates were found when using either PDA device when compared with a combined baseline and paper memory aid condition (for Palm OS device, Incidence Rate Ratio [IRR] = 2.14, P < .0005, CI [confidence interval] = 1.77-2.59; for Microsoft Pocket PC OS device, IRR = 1.47, P < .001, CI = 1.18-1.82). A significant difference in completion rates was also found between the 2 PDA devices (IRR = 1.46, P < .0005, CI = 1.26-1.70), with the Palm version producing the better scores. CONCLUSIONS:: Substantially higher rates of task completion (more than double in some cases) when using either PDA device suggest that rehabilitation clinicians can make productive use of PDA-based memory aids in their TBI patient populations. The strength of the effects of PDA device usage argues for further investigation of the impact of device usage on quality-of-life and costs of care, and of personal and caregiver factors predictive of successful and sustained device usage.

Language: en