Effectiveness of holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation for Spanish population with acquired brain injury measured using Rasch analysis

The Rasch model is increasingly used in the field of rehabilitation because it improves the accuracy of measurements of patient status and their changes after therapy. Objective: To determine the long-term effectiveness of a holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation program for Spanish outpatients with acquired brain injury (ABI) using Rasch analysis. Methods: Eighteen patients (ten with long evolution - patients who started the program > 6 months after ABI- and eight with short evolution) and their relatives attended the program for 6 months. Patients and relatives answers to the European Brain Injury Questionnaire and the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale at 3 time points (pre-intervention. post-intervention and 12 month follow-up) were transformed into linear measures called logits. Results: The linear measures revealed significant improvements with large effects at the follow-up assessment on cognitive and executive functioning, social and emotional self-regulation, apathy and mood. At follow-up, the short evolution group achieved greater improvements in mood and cognitive functioning than the long evolution patients. Conclusions: The program showed long-term effectiveness for most of the variables, and it was more effective for mood and cognitive functioning when patients were treated early. Relatives played a key role in the effectiveness of the rehabilitation program.