Journal des nouvelles physiothérapies

Abstrait

An Observation Based Intervention Study: Clinical Changes in Interaction Behaviour as Response to Guided Tactual Interaction Therapy in 5 Adults with Acquired, Severe Brain Injury

Lone Blak Lund, Anna Birthe Andersen, Karen Hastrup Arentsen and Tove Kristensen

Purpose: To identify and explore possible clinical changes in behaviour, elicited by Guided Tactual Interaction Therapy (GTIT), in patients with very low level of function following severe brain injury.

Methods: 5 adults with acquired, severe brain injury, scoring Rancho Los Amigos Scale (RLAS) 2-4, received GTIT three times. The interventions were video recorded, analysed and interpreted. Clinical changes in behaviour were identified by 4 different investigators, through individual and more consensus analyses.

Results: 4 main types of clinical changes in behaviour elicited by GTIT were identified, represented by 34 differentiated subtypes, which all appeared in pattern formations.

Conclusion: Clinical changes in behaviour were identified during application of GTIT. The changes included positive impacts on motor hyperactivities, tone alterations, eye directions and-expressions, and they revealed several active adjustments to or participations in ADL activities in the patients scoring RLAS 3-4. The clinical changes represent each individual patient’s ability to rise in response level in an individually tailored GTIT treatment situation, and they may reflect different levels of perceptual organisation. More studies on individual response behaviours elicited by GTIT in persons with acquired, severe brain injury are suggested.