The Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment

The Applicability of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) in Rehabilitation for Patients with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) - A Cohort Study

Aim

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the applicability of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) in patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) admitted to a specialized rehabilitation unit in a regional hospital. A secondary aim was to identify patient characteristics and functioning that predicted changes in the PSFS.

Patients and Methods

In a cohort study, 59 patients with ABI were assessed for the ability to complete the PSFS. A trained multidisciplinary team applied the PSFS as part of a collaborative development of rehabilitation goals. The modified Rankin Scale (mRS), the Functional Ambulation Categories (FAC), the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT), the Norwegian Basic Aphasia Assessment (NBAA) and the Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) were used to identify characteristics of the sample. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to investigate associations between changes in the PSFS score from admission to discharge and a selected set of participant baseline characteristics and functioning.

Results

Fifty-four patients (92%) of the patients with ABI were able to complete the PSFS. The five (8%) who were unable to complete the PSFS had severe cognitive or language impairment. The PSFS score improved by a mean of 2.6 (SD 2.0) points from admission to discharge. The LOTCA score made the strongest unique contribution to explain the change in the PSFS score (beta = 0.477, p= 0.020).

Conclusion

In the present study, most patients with ABI (92%) were able to complete the PSFS. Cognitive function on admission was a predictor of improved functioning on the PSFS.

Supporting the Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment using distributed user interfaces

PURPOSE

Improve the quantity and quality of information obtained from traditional Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment Battery systems to monitor the evolution of patients' rehabilitation process as well as to compare different rehabilitation therapies.

METHODS

The system replaces traditional artefacts with virtual versions of them to take advantage of cutting edge interaction technology. The system is defined as a Distributed User Interface (DUI) supported by a display ecosystem, including mobile devices as well as multi-touch surfaces. Due to the heterogeneity of the devices involved in the system, the software technology is based on a client-server architecture using the Web as the software platform.

RESULTS

The system provides therapists with information that is not available (or it is very difficult to gather) using traditional technologies (i.e. response time measurements, object tracking, information storage and retrieval facilities, etc.).

CONCLUSIONS

The use of DUIs allows therapists to gather information that is unavailable using traditional assessment methods as well as adapt the system to patients' profile to increase the range of patients that are able to take this assessment. Implications for Rehabilitation Using a Distributed User Interface environment to carry out LOTCAs improves the quality of the information gathered during the rehabilitation assessment. This system captures physical data regarding patient's interaction during the assessment to improve the rehabilitation process analysis. Allows professionals to adapt the assessment procedure to create different versions according to patients' profile. Improves the availability of patients' profile information to therapists to adapt the assessment procedure.