title: Electronic reminding technology following traumatic brain injury: effects on timely task completion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether automated reminders from 2 contemporary personal digital assistant (PDA) devices produce higher rates of timely task completion in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatient and community rehabilitation settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-six adults aged 18 to 66 years with TBI and self-determined complaints of memory impairment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Timely completion rates for assigned memory tasks under 4 randomly assigned memory aid conditions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly, higher completion rates were found when using either PDA device when compared with a combined baseline and paper memory aid condition (for Palm OS device, Incidence Rate Ratio [IRR] = 2.14, P < .0005, CI [confidence interval] = 1.77-2.59; for Microsoft Pocket PC OS device, IRR = 1.47, P < .001, CI = 1.18-1.82). A significant difference in completion rates was also found between the 2 PDA devices (IRR = 1.46, P < .0005, CI = 1.26-1.70), with the Palm version producing the better scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Substantially higher rates of task completion (more than double in some cases) when using either PDA device suggest that rehabilitation clinicians can make productive use of PDA-based memory aids in their TBI patient populations. The strength of the effects of PDA device usage argues for further investigation of the impact of device usage on quality-of-life and costs of care, and of personal and caregiver factors predictive of successful and sustained device usage.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. murdomdowdsphd@verizon.net
authors.forename: Murdo M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Dowds
authors.forename: Patricia H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jeffrey B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Sheer
authors.forename: Therese M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: O'Neil-Pirozzi
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Xenopoulos-Oddsson
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Zainea
authors.forename: Mel B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Glenn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017010:Reminder Systems