Sensory stimulation of severely brain-injured patients.

The research reported here consisted of a series of three studies of the use of a sensory stimulation protocol and assessment scale with brain-injured patients at either Level II or Level III on the Ranchos Los Amigos Cognitive Scale. In the first study, a pilot project with six patients addressed the hypotheses that: (1) immediate changes in responsiveness occur as a result of sensory stimulation; (2) variables such as positioning and level of contact have an effect on responsiveness; and (3) these changes can be measured. The second study established acceptable concurrent validity (n = 20), test-retest (n = 20) reliability and inter-rater reliability (n = 19) values for the procedures. The third study assessed whether change in responsiveness occurs over time secondary to sensory stimulation. General Responsiveness measures for 19 patients were obtained and then remeasured after 3 months. No significant differences in mean General Responsiveness values were found using the t-test for related measures procedure. Relationships were reviewed between General Responsiveness and amount of treatment per day, frequency of family visits, pre-morbid education, age, time since injury and neurological status. No differences were found between those patients who improved and those who did not improve.