Difficulties in Everyday Technology Use of the People with Acquired Brain Injury Living at Home

Abstract

: Everyday technology (ET) has become central to modern life, but its use poses challenges to those with cog­ nitive impairments. We sought to describe the level of perceived difficulties in using ET by people with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and to assess the correlation between perceived level of difficulty and cognitive impairment. The Every­ day Technology Use Questionnaire revised Japanese version (ETUQ-Japan) was used to assess perceived difficulties in ET use for twenty-two participants with ABI. A trend of negative correlation was observed between the ratio of ET used with assistance of someone else and all neuropsychological test results. In particular, strong negative correlation was observed between the executive function (Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome, BADS) and the use of ET with assistance. It is likely that impairments to executive function are associated with difficulties in using ET use and patients with ABI living at home will require aid to address these problems.