Objective
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Increase understanding of the challenges faced by patients with cognitive impairment and family caregivers during rehabilitation.
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Explore the technology used and preference for patients and caregivers.
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Summary key feature for mHealth to support long-term rehabilitation.
Methodology: Case Study & Qualitative Analysis
A qualitative approach was employed to understand individual experiences. Participants were recruited through a personal network, and data were collected through remote interviews. With participants' consent, interviews were recorded, and audio data were transferred to transcripts manually. Thematic analysis was applied to extract key insights.
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Four main directions for guide interview:
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Expectations and goals during rehabilitation.
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Personal experiences - understand the full rehabilitation journey.
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Challenges - Cognitive functions, environmental adaptations, lifestyle shifts, and social relationships.
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Technology used and preferences - prior experience and usage.​
Findings & Analysis
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​Patients
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Difficult to engage with media content: The decreased memory capability caused by cognitive impairment disturbs an individual's immersion in a story and engagement with media work(e.g., books, movies).
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Social connection shrinks: The impairment leads to difficult anger regulation, which causes stress for caregivers and those around them. The social connection from the friend circle and the workplace diminishes over time. The increased social rejection results in decreased confidence and self-esteem.
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Caregivers
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Emotional Stress: Due to limited access to affordable psychological services and additional nursing support, the caregivers can become overwhelmed in daily nursing.
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Knowledge gap for each stage of nursing in rehabilitation: The questions they found in daily nursing can be specified and detailed, such as the meal plan and side effect recovery. Therefore, digital tools, such as social media and chatbots, were often used as search tools to fill the knowledge gap and get suggestions. ​
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Conclusion
This case study explores the real challenges faced by patients and their caregivers during rehabilitation. Based on findings, ABI patients experience cognitive impairments that can result in social isolation and are more likely to experience social rejection, while caregivers experience emotional stress due to unmet needs for psychological support. To meet the demand of therapy and nursing support, relieve the burden of medical resources. Future studies can explore the oppotunities of integrating AI in domain expert training and efficiency in resource mediation for individuals to achieve service personalization. Additionally, this project emphasizes the importance of viewing patients and caregivers as an interdependent unit, where both parties influence and support each other throughout recovery.