title: Post-coma persons emerging from a minimally conscious state with multiple disabilities make technology-aided phone contacts with relevant partners.
abstract: Post-coma individuals emerging from a minimally conscious state with multiple disabilities may enjoy contact with relevant partners (e.g., family members and friends), but may not have easy access to them. These two single-case studies assessed whether those individuals could make contact with partners through computer-aided telephone technology and enjoy such contact. The technology involved a computer system with special software, a global system for mobile communication modem (GSM), and microswitch devices. In Study I, the computer system presented a 23-year-old man the names of the partners that he could contact, one at a time, automatically. Together with each partner's name, the system also presented the voice of the partner asking the man whether he wanted to call him or her. The man could (a) place a call to that partner by activating a camera-based microswitch through mouth movements or (b) bypass that partner and wait for the next one to be presented. In Study II, the system presented a 36-year-old man the partners' names only after he had activated his wobble microswitch with a hand movement. The man could place a call or bypass a partner as in Study I. The results showed that both men (a) were able to contact relevant partners through the technology, (b) seemed to enjoy their telephone-mediated communication contacts with the partners, and (c) showed preferences among the partners. Implications of the findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Bari, Italy. Electronic address: giulio.lancioni@uniba.it.
authors.forename: Giulio E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Lancioni
authors.forename: Nirbhay N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sigafoos
authors.forename: Doretta
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Oliva
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Campodonico
authors.forename: Fiora
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Amico
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buonocunto
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Didden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003128:Coma / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003143:Communication Devices for People with Disabilities; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018458:Persistent Vegetative State / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013689:Telephone / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013812:Therapeutics; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Computer-aided telephone technology; Emergence from minimal consciousness; Multiple disabilities; Phone calls