Article

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.

Langue : ANGLAIS