Brainwave-R audit completed in 2007 with 56 patients

Purpose:

To determine if the use of Brainwave-R is associated with improvements in cognitive functions within rehabilitation programmes

To explore how the treatment effects may be happening

Method:

A questionnaire was designed by 4 therapists who had experience in using the treatment materials:

(All answers were scored on ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘don’t know’ unless this is annotated differently on each question below in brackets)

• What modules did you complete? (list of modules provided)
• Did you enjoy the modules?
• Did the modules help you to understand your injury
• Are you able to explain your injury in basic terms as a result of the treatment?
• Did success in the modules make you feel better about yourself?
• Did success in the modules increase your motivation?
• Did success in the modules increase your confidence?
• Did the structured nature of tasks and homework give you a sense of control over your treatment?
• Do you think the structured nature of the tasks helped you to understand what you were required to do?
• Were you given/able to come up with strategies that helped your cognitive problems?
• Do you think you spent enough time with the therapist?
• Did you find consistent feedback useful?
• How difficult would you say the module tasks are? (difficult, moderate or easy)
• How difficult are the module instructions to understand? (difficult, moderate or easy)
• How much work would you say you were given? (too much, about right or too little)
• Do you think the work you did directly related to your brain injury?
• What would you say are the best points to the treatment? (free text)
• What would you say were the worst points to the treatment? (free text)
• In your own words what does Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy do? (free text)
• Do you feel that you have directly benefited from your treatment in Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy?

Procedure:

Upon completion of a module of cognitive rehabilitation, the patient was given a questionnaire to complete in their own time, with the instruction to be totally honest and critical in order to enable us to improve the service. It was emphasised that their honest opinion was wanted, to help the programme do things better for patients in the future.

Results:

A total of 56 questionnaires were returned. There were 0 nil returns. This represents 100% return rate.

For the purposes of this report 7 items from the questionnaires have been extracted

Discussion:

It is clear that not everyone enjoys the work given, but virtually everyone believes they benefited directly from it. (2/3 of people did enjoy the work).

It is clear that the majority of people gain a greater understanding of their brain injury as a direct result of the work given. This is supported by the free text comments. Awareness is a key issue for unlocking potential in brain injury rehabilitation – the modules of work provided by the Brainwave-R materials appear to contribute significantly to the development of awareness.

It is clear that a majority of people gain tremendously in terms of their psychosocial skills (self esteem, motivation, confidence, and sense of control). It is hypothesised that it is these factors combined with greater awareness that provide the biggest benefits.