K Tham

Publications (7)9.93 Total impact

• Source

  Available from: Inga-Lill Boman

  Article: Support in everyday activities with a home-based electronic memory aid for persons with memory impairments.

  I-L Boman, A Bartfai, L Borell, K Tham, H Hemmingsson
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  ABSTRACT: The purposes of this study was to examine the possibilities of a home-based electronic memory aid with sensors for persons with memory impairments, as support to carry out everyday activities in their own home environments. The method involved a single-subject study with a multiple baseline AB design. Five participants identified three activities each that they usually forget to carry out. An electronic memory aid with individually spoken reminders was installed in the participant's home. There were automatic computer registrations of completed activities during the study phase of 12 weeks. Assessments of functioning and quality of life (QoL) were conducted before and after the intervention and at follow-up after 2 months. Four participants improved in completing most of the self-chosen activities when the electronic memory aid was used. Performance and satisfaction with performance and QoL improved, but there was no memory function improvement. There were technical problems with the aid, which had a negative effect for users. Electronic memory aids have a large potential for supporting persons with cognitive impairments. It is important to conduct follow-up afterwards, because the use of an aid and the need of support change over time and put high demands on technical reliability of the electronic memory aid.
  Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology 01/2010; 5(5):339-50.
• Source

  Available from: Inga-Lill Boman

  Article: Using electronic aids to daily living after acquired brain injury: a study of the learning process and the usability.

  I L Boman, K Tham, A Granqvist, A Bartfai, H Hemmingsson
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  ABSTRACT: The purpose was to study the ability of persons with memory impairments after acquired brain injury to learn how to and use electronic aids to daily living (EADL) and to describe changes in function and quality of life. Eight participants stayed in two apartments equipped with a set of basic and advanced EADL for either 4 or 6 months during an intervention time of 2 years. The teaching and learning method was influenced by certain principles of errorless learning. Ability to learn to use EADL was measured by structured observations. Function and quality of life were assessed with self-rating questionnaires. Results indicate that the participants learned to use EADL in their everyday activities. They perceived that EADL were very useful and easy to learn. Occupational performance and satisfaction with occupational performance and quality of life was improved. The results indicate that EADL may play an important role in facilitating everyday activities and improve satisfaction with occupational performance and quality of life for people with memory impairments. The study indicates the importance of adjusting technology to the user's needs and calls for more consideration for human-technology interaction factors.
  Disability and Rehabilitation Assistive Technology 02/2007; 2(1):23-33.
• Article: Rehabilitation at home after stroke: a descriptive study of an individualized intervention.

  L von Koch, L W Holmqvist, A W Wottrich, K Tham, J de Pedro-Cuesta
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  ABSTRACT: To describe the content of a programme involving early hospital discharge and continued rehabilitation at home after stroke. Quantitative and qualitative descriptive study of an intervention within the context of a randomized controlled trial. Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. Forty-one patients, moderately impaired after stroke, rehabilitated by a team of six occupational, physical, and speech and language therapists. The average duration of the programme was 14 weeks, the mean number of home visits 12, and the median total time consumption 23 hours and 20 minutes, of which face-to-face contact with the patient constituted 54%. The rehabilitation process was pursued by the patient and the therapist in partnership. Supported by the team the therapists incorporated a wider domain of activities than usual and left a considerable amount of the training to self-directed activities. The most common foci of the visits were speech and communication, ADL activities and ambulation. When planning the intervention the therapists paid attention to discrepancies between the desires and abilities of the patient on the one hand and environmental demands on the other - discrepancies detected through observation of the patient in the home environment. The home environment offers therapists working in a team opportunities to adopt a behaviour that enables patients with moderate neurological impairments after stroke to resume responsibility and influence over their rehabilitation process, resulting in an individualized rehabilitation programme that varies in duration, content and frequency of home visits.
  Clinical Rehabilitation 01/2001; 14(6):574-83. · 2.12 Impact Factor
• Article: Video feedback in the rehabilitation of patients with unilateral neglect.

  K Tham, R Tegnér
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  ABSTRACT: To compare the effects of a video procedure and a conventional verbal procedure in giving patients feedback on their neglect behavior in a practical task. Subjects in group A were trained with a video feedback procedure and subjects in group B with a conventional, verbal procedure. Three hours after the procedures, the subjects were tested with four different neglect tests to evaluate the effects of training. A consecutive series of 14 right-brain-damaged patients with moderate to severe unilateral neglect (UN): 7 patients in group A and 7 in group B. Subjects in group A were given the opportunity to see their performances on video, directly after the performance of the "Baking Tray Task" (BTT). They could see their neglected left side on the right side of the TV monitor. Subjects in group B were given verbal and visual guidance to see their results in the BTT. Line Cancellation Task, Figure Copying Task, Line Bisection, and BTT before and after procedures. The video feedback group improved significantly in the BTT, as tested 3 hours after training (p < .02). Conventional training had no effect on the BTT or on the other neglect measures. In the video feedback group, no generalization effects from the videotaped BTT on other neglect tests were observed. Video feedback seems to be a useful technique in the rehabilitation of patients with unilateral neglect.
  Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 04/1997; 78(4):410-3. · 2.28 Impact Factor
• Article: Sustained attention training for unilateral neglect: theoretical and rehabilitation implications.

  I H Robertson, R Tegnér, K Tham, A Lo, I Nimmo-Smith
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  ABSTRACT: Many studies have shown a co-variation of unilateral neglect with nonlateralised attentional functions. Recently, Posner has argued that there are two separate neural systems that influence the posterior attentional system which is presumed to be impaired in unilateral neglect, namely, the posterior system itself (located partly in the inferior parietal lobules) as well as a secondary modulatory sustained attention or vigilance system. This latter system is linked to the nor-epinephrine system, which is known to be more strongly represented in the right compared to the left hemisphere of the brain. If this hypothesis is true, then unilateral neglect should be improved by increasing activation of the sustained attention system. Eight patients suffering from chronic left unilateral neglect were trained to sustain their attention by a self-alerting procedure partially derived from Meichenbaum's self-instructional methods. Using a multiple-baseline-by-function design, as well as multiple-baseline-by-subject designs, statistically significant improvements in unilateral neglect as well in sustained attention were found following onset of sustained attention training, without corresponding improvements in control measures. Theoretical implications for the attentional underpinnings of unilateral neglect are discussed, as well as the rehabilitation implications of this training procedure.
  Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology 06/1995; 17(3):416-30. · 2.13 Impact Factor
• Article: Training to improve awareness of disabilities in clients with unilateral neglect.

  K Tham, E Ginsburg, A G Fisher, R Tegnér
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  ABSTRACT: Awareness of disabilities is known to be a central problem of rehabilitation among clients with large right cerebrovascular lesions and unilateral neglect. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an intervention program focused on improving the awareness of disabilities in four participants with unilateral neglect. The intervention program developed for this study was based on the assumption that awareness of disabilities is a prerequisite for being able to learn and use compensatory techniques in the performance of activities of daily living (ADL). The study followed a single-case experimental ABA design. The Assessment of Awareness of Disability was used to measure awareness of disabilities; the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills was used to measure ADL ability; and neuropsychological tests were used to assess unilateral neglect and sustained attention. The intervention program used meaningful and purposeful occupations as therapeutic change agents to improve awareness of disabilities. Awareness of disabilities and ADL ability improved in all four participants; unilateral neglect decreased in three participants; and sustained attention improved in two participants. The preliminary findings indicate that training to improve awareness of disabilities might improve the ability to learn the use of compensatory techniques in the performance of ADL in clients with unilateral neglect. The effects of the intervention strategy need to be evaluated further in future research.
  The American journal of occupational therapy.: official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association 55(1):46-54. · 1.70 Impact Factor
• Article: The discovery of disability: a phenomenological study of unilateral neglect.

  K Tham, L Borell, A Gustavsson
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  ABSTRACT: Clients with right brain damage and unilateral neglect often lack awareness of their disabilities. This study examined how 4 participants with neglect experienced, discovered, and handled their disabilities in the context of their everyday life. The 4 participants were interviewed five to seven times during their rehabilitation process. The data were collected and analyzed using the EPP (empirical, phenomenological, psychological) method. Findings revealed seven features that described a discovery process for the 4 participants. During this process, each participant began to discover and understand the consequences of her unilateral neglect in the performance of everyday tasks. This increased understanding was a prerequisite to being able to use compensatory strategies. By experiencing meaningful occupational situations, the participants gradually discovered and began to compensate for their disabilities in everyday life.
  The American journal of occupational therapy.: official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association 54(4):398-406. · 1.70 Impact Factor