Validity and feasibility of a learning style instrument for brain injury rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE
Identifying learning styles of acquired brain injury (ABI) patients may aid the learning process by tailoring to the patient's learning needs and preferences. Currently, there is no learning style instrument for ABI patients. We therefore determined the validity and feasibility of the Adapted Learning Style Inventory (A-LSI) for patients with ABI.


METHODS
We included 99 patients with ABI and 42 healthy controls. Learning styles were determined and subgroups were used to evaluate the validity of the A-LSI. Furthermore, rehabilitation professionals' perceptions on learning style and the A-LSI were evaluated.


RESULTS
In the patient group, the A-LSI yielded the following learning styles: 4 doers, 54 observers, 2 deciders and 39 thinkers. A similar distribution was found for the control group (3, 28, 0 and 11, respectively). Spearman correlations revealed moderate internal validity. Content validity of the A-LSI was also moderate; 11 out of 19 patients recognized themselves in their A-LSI learning style. Furthermore, 12 rehabilitation professionals reported positive and negative aspects of the A-LSI and suggestions for using learning style in rehabilitation.


CONCLUSIONS
Rehabilitation professionals were generally positive about using learning style in ABI rehabilitation. This study, however, raises doubts about the validity and feasibility of the A-LSI for this population.


CONCLUSIONS
Rehabilitation professionals are generally positive about the assessment and implementation of learning style in rehabilitation. The A-LSI seems to be an inappropriate learning style instrument for individuals with ABI. There is a need for a more practical instrument to assess learning style directly at start of rehabilitation.
Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience and Centre of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, University Medical Centre Utrecht and De Hoogstraat Rehabilitation , Utrecht , the Netherlands .
H
H
Boosman
C M
CM
van Heugten
M W M
MW
Post
E
E
Lindeman
J M A
JM
Visser-Meily
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000193:education*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015588:Observer Variation; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult