Citation

Avramović P, Rietdijk R, Attard M, Kenny B, Power E, Togher L. J. Neurotrauma 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2021.0473

PMID

35819294

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to cognitive linguistic deficits that significantly impact on quality of life and wellbeing. Digital health offers timely access to specialised services, however there are few synthesized reviews in this field. This review evaluates and synthesises reports of digital health interventions in TBI rehabilitation and caregiver education. Systematic searches of nine databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, speechBITE, and PsycBITE) were conducted from database inception to February 2022. Studies were included of interventions where the primary treatment focus (>50%) was on improving communication, social, psychological or cognitive skills of people with TBI and/or communication partners. Data: participants, characteristics of the interventions, outcome measures and findings. Risk of bias: methodological quality (PEDro-P and PEDro+, ROBiN-T) and intervention description. Synthesis: qualitative data was analysed using thematic synthesis. Forty-four articles met eligibility criteria: 20 randomised controlled trials, 3 single-case experimental designs, 6 non-randomised controlled trials, 9 case series studies and 2 case studies. Studies comprised 3666 people with TBI and 213 carers.

METHODological quality was varied and intervention description was poor. Most interventions were delivered via a single digital modality e.g. telephone with few using a combination of modalities. Five interventions used co-design with key stakeholders. Digital health interventions for people with TBI and their caregivers are feasible and all studies reported positive outcomes, however, few included blind assessors. Improved methodological rigor, clearly described intervention characteristics and consistent outcome measurement is recommended. Further research is needed regarding multimodal digital health interventions.

Language: en

Keywords

ADULT BRAIN INJURY; COGNITIVE FUNCTION; HEAD TRAUMA; REHABILITATION; TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY