The effect of videoconference-based telerehabilitation on story retelling performance by brain-injured subjects and its implications for remote speech-language therapy.

This paper presents results from a study conducted at the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Telerehabilitation at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. The study was designed to measure performance by brain-injured subjects, with medical diagnoses of stroke or traumatic brain injury, on a standardized Speech-Language Pathology evaluation conducted in both face-to-face and videoconference-based telerehabilitation settings. The Story Retelling Procedure (SRP), which measures connected language production and comprehension of spoken narratives, was administered to each subject in both settings. The primary objectives of this study were to: (1) compare communication as measured by the SRP between experimental settings, and (2) determine if subject variables (such as age, education, technology experience or gender) had an effect on performance differences between settings. The rationale was that any difference in this aspect of performance must be identified and characterized before this mode of intervention can be used clinically. Across all subjects (n = 40), no significant difference (p > 0.05) was found between SRP performance measured in the two settings. Additionally, variables including age, education, technology experience, and gender did not significantly affect the difference between performance in the two settings. Overall, subjects reported a high level of acceptance of videoconferencing with 34 subjects responding "yes," 4 responding "no," and 2 responding "maybe" when asked if they would use videoconferencing again to talk to a clinician. Results of this study confirm the potential for SLP treatment using videoconferencing and indicate a need for continued research in the field.