Occupational therapy interventions to improve the ability to use everyday technology in work after acquired brain injury

The use of everyday technology (ET) has become an integral part of tasks in home and society, including the workplace. Research has shown that people with acquired brain injury (ABI) can have difficulties managing ET and that... [ view full abstract ]

The use of everyday technology (ET) has become an integral part of tasks in home and society, including the workplace. Research has shown that people with acquired brain injury (ABI) can have difficulties managing ET and that the demands the ET impose can influence the possibility to return to work after an ABI. Despite that, the role of ET has until recently been disregarded in the work rehabilitation. More knowledge is needed on how people with ABI can be supported in their use of ETs, required to perform work tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate how client-centered occupational therapy interventions could support and improve the ability to use ET in work tasks in people with ABI. This intervention study was designed as a descriptive multiple-case study of three participants. Data were collected through interviews, observations, field-notes and assessments before, after the interventions and at follow-up. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure was used to evaluate changes in the participants’ self-perception of work task performance and satisfaction and the Management of Everyday Technology Assessment was used to evaluate observation-based changes of the participants’ abilities. The Occupational Therapy Intervention Process Model guided the individual occupation-based interventions. The results showed that all goals in each of the three cases were achieved and both the perceived and the observed ability to use ET in work tasks improved. These results indicate that client-centered occupational therapy interventions have the potential to improve the ability to use ET in work tasks for people with ABI.