Self-rehabilitation of acquired brain injury patients including neglect and attention deficit disorder with a tablet game in a clinical setting

Abstract

We designed and evaluated a whack-a-mole (WAM) style game (see Figure 1) in a clinical randomized controlled trial (RCT) with reminder-assisted but self-initiated use over the period of a month with 43 participants from a post-lesion pool. While game play did not moderate rehabilitative progress indices of standard neuropsychological control tests, it did significantly improve in-game performance when compared to the control group. Its performance indicators and interaction data were highly accurate in predicting neglect and which hand the patients used for input. Patients found playing beneficial to their rehabilitation and attributed gains in the attention training properties of the game. The game showed potential for bedside assessment, insight support, and motivation by providing knowledge about rehabilitative progress.