Effectiveness of a comprehensive day treatment program for rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury in Japan.

OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of a day treatment program with a comprehensive team approach for treating outpatients with acquired brain injury, which is offered by the Kanagawa Rehabilitation Hospital. DESIGN Non-randomized controlled study. SUBJECTS Twenty-five program graduates and 12 control patients with acquired brain injury. METHODS A prospective study using 25 brain-injured patients with cognitive dysfunction who were provided with a comprehensive day treatment program at Kanagawa Rehabilitation Hospital. The 25 enrolled patients had treatment sessions lasting 2-4 hours for 2 days a week over a 3-6-month period. Functional Independence Measure/Functional Assessment Measure (FIM/FAM) and the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) were administered before and after the program to compare outcomes between the 25 program participants and the 12 control patients who did not receive the day treatment program. RESULTS Significant improvements in speech intelligibility, problem solving, memory, attention and social integration scores in the FIM/FAM and scores in social integration and productive activity in the CIQ were evident in the enrolled subjects. In addition, 9 of the 25 patients returned to work or school. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate the effectiveness of this program in helping to rehabilitate patients with acquired brain injury.