Clinicians’ Expectations and Opinions of Portable Electronic Devices

Past Studies

Past Studies have found that use of portable electronic devices can support or improve the functional abilities of individuals with traumatic brain injuries. Such electronic devices include beepers, voice recorders, and hand-held computers. For example, portable electronic devices can be helpful for providing reminders, such as using an alarm to remind an individual to take a medication at a certain time. Research has focused on identifying the characteristics of individuals with brain injury associated with successful use of portable electronic devices. Research has not explored the clinicians’ attitudes and expectations for selecting, training, and supporting the use of portable electronic devices.

This Study

This Study analyzed the surveyed responses of 81 direct service providers with various educational specialties from four TBI Model Systems rehabilitation centers and one conference about assistive technology. The majority of the clinicians were speech therapists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. The researchers obtained information about the clinician’s background, computer experience, and history of working with individuals with traumatic brain injuries who use assistive technology. The participants were asked to rate the usefulness of portable electronic devices for specific behavioral or cognitive (thinking skills) impairments. They were asked to provide lists of cognitive, physical, and personality traits that they felt were predictors of success or barriers for the individual use of portable electronic devices. Finally, the clinicians were asked to state their level of confidence for training individuals to use portable electronic devices and how they felt access to devices could be improved. The researchers found that 90% of the clinicians reported that they used full-sized computers, while only 17% of them used portable electronic devices, such as programmable watches or PDAs (personal digital assistants). About two-thirds of the clinicians reported that they used computers in their therapy programs with individuals. Almost half of the clinicians stated that they had experience with individuals who used portable electronic devices in rehabilitation. The clinicians reported that they felt the portable electronic devices would be most useful to assist individuals with learning and memory skills, as well as planning and organization techniques. The clinicians indicated that they thought the portable electronic devices would be less useful as an aid for social skills and behavioral difficulties. The cost of the portable electronic device was listed as the top limitation for its use in rehabilitation. The clinicians revealed a low level of overall confidence in their ability to instruct an individual with traumatic brain injury to use a portable electronic device. Those clinicians that personally used the devices expressed significantly higher levels of confidence in their abilities to guide others.

Who May Be Affected By These Findings

Individuals with traumatic brain injury, health care providers, researchers

Caveats

The results from this study cannot be generalized to all clinicians. The participants in this study were a group of clinicians that may be more experienced with portable electronic devices than the general population of clinicians because of the nature of their work. The level of confidence among all clinicians for guiding individuals with traumatic brain injury to use a portable electronic device may actually even be lower than what this study indicated. If so, this stresses the importance of continuing education for clinicians in the field of assistive technology to assure that all individuals are afforded the opportunity to access Assistive technology, as appropriate.

Bottom Line

The researchers found that the clinicians believed that portable electronic devices were most useful for assisting individuals with learning and memory skills, as well as planning and organization techniques. The cost of the portable electronic device was listed as the top limitation for its use in rehabilitation. Those clinicians that did not personally use a portable electronic device reported low levels of confidence in their abilities to guide individuals with traumatic brain injuries to use the technology.

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