Interactive eBooks in educating patients and their families about head injury regardless of age.
OBJECTIVE
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a common and debilitating injury that is particularly prevalent in patients over 60. Given the influence of head injury on dementia (and vice versa), and the increased likelihood of ground-level falls, elderly patients are vulnerable to TBI. Educational interventions can increase knowledge and influence preventative activity to decrease the likelihood of further TBI. We sought to determine the efficacy of interactive tablet-based educational interventions in elderly patients on self-reported knowledge.


METHODS
Patients and family members, ages 20-90, presenting to a NeuroTrauma clinic completed a pre-survey to assess baseline TBI or concussion knowledge, depending on their diagnosis. Participants then received an interactive electronic book (eBook), or a text-based pamphlet with identical information, and completed a post-survey to test interim knowledge improvement.


RESULTS
All participants (n=180), regardless of age, had significantly higher post-survey scores (p<0.01, 95% CI). Elderly participants who received the eBook (n=39) scored lower than their younger counterparts despite higher pre-survey scores (p<0.01, 95% CI). All participants who received the eBook (n=20, 90) significantly improved on the post-survey (p<0.01, 95% CI) when compared to participants who received the paper pamphlets (n=10, 31). All participants significantly preferred the eBook (p<0.01, 95% CI).


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated that interactive educational interventions are effective in the elderly TBI population. Enhanced educational awareness in the elderly population, especially patients at risk or with prior TBI, may prevent further head injury by educating patients on the importance of avoiding further head injury and taking precautionary measures to decrease the likelihood of further injury.
UC Irvine School of Medicine MSTP, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: rsahyoun@uci.edu.
Ronald
R
Sahyouni
UC Irvine Department of Biomedical Engineering, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: mahmooa1@uci.edu.
Amin
A
Mahmoodi
UC Irvine Department of Neurological Surgery, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: amahmoo1@uci.edu.
Amir
A
Mahmoodi
UC Irvine Department of Neurological Surgery, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: mhuang96@gmail.com.
Melissa
M
Huang
UC Irvine Department of Neurological Surgery, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: diemkt@uci.edu.
Diem Kieu
DK
Tran
UC Irvine Department of Neurological Surgery, Irvine, CA, USA. Electronic address: jeffewc1@uci.edu.
Jefferson W
JW
Chen
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D057240:Patient Preference; D011643:Publishing; D055815:Young Adult
Age; Concussion; Education; Elderly; Neurosurgery; TBI; Traumatic brain injury; iBook