Acquired brain injury (ABI) can lead to a constellation of higher-order executive problems, which can impact significantly on everyday behaviour. While some neuropsychological assessments are able to measure these impairments objectively, increasingly, clinicians are finding that a subset of their patients passes these tests while still exhibiting difficulties in day-to-day living. Calls have therefore been made to develop assessments that are more sensitive and that are more ecologically valid. In this study, in Experiment 1, a multiple errands task (MET) based around a business office was created to assess concurrently nine aspects of executive functioning (planning, prioritisation, selective-thinking, creative-thinking, adaptive-thinking, multi-tasking, action-based prospective memory (PM), event-based PM and time-based PM). This new paradigm, the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions (JEF©) showed a significant difference between six individuals with ABI and matched healthy controls; further, it showed that across the nine constructs there was a range of performance. In Experiment 2, JEF© was recreated in a virtual environment resembling a computer game, and it was found that this version significantly differentiated between 17 individuals with ABI and 30 healthy controls. These results suggest that the virtual version of JEF© could be used as a new assessment of executive function. The profile of performance across the nine constructs for each individual provides a wealth of objective information that could potentially inform targeted rehabilitation.

Aim: To evaluate factors that may contribute to the decision of the consultant medical officer (CMO) to: (1) admit a person with stroke to inpatient rehabilitation from acute hospitalisation; and (2) continue or cease inpatient rehabilitation.

Methods: A web-based survey of CMOs practising in Queensland Australia, who were members of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Geriatric Medicine (n ~ 90) or the Queensland Stroke Clinical Network (n ~ 30) was completed. The survey contained two sections to explore factors that could: (1) favour or disfavour admission to inpatient rehabilitation from acute hospitalisation; and (2) favour continuation or cessation of inpatient rehabilitation. Open and closed questions were used.

Results: Twenty-one CMOs (13–20% response rate, 43% geriatrician) completed the survey. Factors related to physical function, along with the presence of social supports favoured admission, while the presence of behavioural and cognitive impairments and a lack of staff capacity disfavoured admission. Improvements in function favoured continuation of inpatient rehabilitation, while a lack of improvement favoured cessation.

Conclusion: Factors related to the patient, their social support network and the organisation were found to influence the decision of the CMO to admit a person with stroke to inpatient rehabilitation from acute hospitalisation. Once in rehabilitation, demonstration of benefit was consistently reported to indicate continued service need.

Background and aims: Previous research has focused primarily on incidence rates and barriers/facilitators influencing return to work, without considering the formal paths accessed by people with stroke. The aim of this study was to identify the paths used by Australian people to return to work following stroke, including changes to work-related habits and routines, and job satisfaction.

Methods: This descriptive, retrospective study recruited people through newsletters and online forums for people with stroke. The quantitative data were summarised descriptively and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare pre- and post-stroke job satisfaction rates.

Results: Participants (n = 21) were aged 48 years on average, female (67%) and university trained (71%). Ten (48%) participants did not access formal return-to-work services, yet participants commonly reported changes to work-related habits and routines. Participants were significantly less satisfied with their post-stroke job suitability (physically, cognitively and financially), stability and importance (p < .05).

Conclusion: Participants in this small-scale study did not routinely access formal support services to return to work, while experiencing changes to work-related habits and satisfaction. Further research is required to document the return-to-work paths, including the experience from the perspective of the person with stroke.

Computers are encountered increasingly in the clinical setting, including during aphasia rehabilitation. However, currently we do not know what people with aphasia think about using computers in therapy and daily life, or to what extent people with aphasia use computers in their everyday life. The present study explored: (1) the use of computers by people with aphasia; and (2) the perceptions of people with aphasia towards computers and computer-based therapy. Thirty-four people with aphasia completed an aphasia-friendly paper-based survey about their use of computers before and after the onset of their aphasia, and their attitudes towards computer-based aphasia therapy. There was a high level of computer usage by people with aphasia both before and after the onset of their aphasia. However, the nature of the computer use changed following aphasia onset, with a move away from work-based usage. The majority of the cohort used computers for aphasia therapy and liked using computer-based aphasia therapy, provided that the programs were perceived as appropriate for their individual needs. The results highlight the importance of exposing people with aphasia to computer-based aphasia therapy in a supported clinical environment, and the need to ensure that computer-based therapy is individualised for each client. It should be noted, however, that while the majority of participants reported positive experiences with using computers, this does not mean that the computer-based therapy software used was necessarily an effective treatment for aphasia.

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is a multidimensional individual-difference measure of empathy. The original IRI has been used in many studies to assess both normal and clinical samples. Because of its wide availability and convenience of use, the IRI has been translated into several languages. In Taiwan, the IRI was translated into traditional Chinese as a Chinese Version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (C-IRI) in 1987. Because the C-IRI was developed over 26 years ago and recent studies have shown some unsatisfactory psychometric properties on the C-IRI, there was a need to develop an alternative to the C-IRI and verify its psychometric properties again. In this study, we assessed the psychometric properties of an alternative C-IRI by administering it to 516 college students, 35 community residents and 70 schizophrenic patients, all of whom are adults. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a four-factor structure: Fantasy, Perspective Taking, Empathy and Personal Distress. Acceptable convergent and divergent validity supported the construct validity of the alternative C-IRI. Evidence was also found for its discriminant validity between patients with schizophrenia and normal controls on the Empathy subscale and Affective Empathy, while the full scale and its factors demonstrated good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. In the future, the alternative C-IRI should be validated with adolescent or elderly samples, and different clinical samples.

Background and aims: For patients with a severe brain injury there is no objective physiotherapy assessment tool that is responsive to the incremental changes in motor recovery in the acute stage. The aims of this study were to identify the items of neuro-motor recovery and scoring criteria for the Acute Brain Injury Physiotherapy Assessment (ABIPA) and determine responsiveness to change and concurrent validity against accepted standard measures of consciousness and physical function in the severe brain injury population.

Method: The literature was searched and an expert consensus panel of experienced clinical physiotherapists informed item selection and developed practical assessment guidelines. The ABIPA was investigated for responsiveness to change and concurrent validity against the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Clinical Outcome Variable Scale (COVS) and Motor Assessment Scale (MAS). Eleven patients (9 males; cohort 41 ± 18 years) with moderate/severe brain injury were recruited, and assessed on days 1, 3, 7 and then weekly until discharge.

Results: The ABIPA demonstrated good to excellent correlations overall with the GCS (rho > .76, p ≤ .001), COVS (rho > .82, p ≤ .001) and MAS (rho > 0.66, p ≤ .001). On day 3, the ABIPA showed the greatest responsiveness to change (standardised response means (SRM) > .83) compared to other measures (SRMs < .77). At discharge all tools demonstrated change in neuro-motor recovery.

Conclusions: The ABIPA is a promising tool for detecting incremental changes in neuro-motor recovery early after severe brain injury.

Objective: Brain injury is described as one potential cause of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV); however, there is little information regarding the actual incidence in people who have suffered a brain injury. The objectives of this study were to determine the incidence of BPPV in a group of inpatients with a brain injury and to document the pattern of recovery.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was used to collate data associated with dizziness and BPPV for all inpatients admitted to an acquired brain injury (ABI) unit over 1 year.

Results: Data from 89 individuals were collated. Forty-three individuals reported dizziness and 13 of these were clinically diagnosed with BPPV. All cases of BPPV occurred in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) with 17.6% of this diagnostic group affected. Over half the cases were diagnosed with bilateral BPPV. Seventy per cent of individuals with BPPV required multiple treatments to resolve all symptoms.

Conclusions: Forty-one per cent of the inpatients who reported dizziness, and were able to be assessed, received a clinical diagnosis of BPPV. The study highlights the high incidence of BPPV following TBI, the importance of specifically enquiring about vertigo symptoms and undertaking appropriate assessment, and the increased complexity of treating BPPV in this group.