Effects of Two Sensory Stimulation Models on Recovery in Adults with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Literature from medical and health sciences indicated that sensory stimulation had a positive effect on traumatic brain injury patients. The present study was aimed to find out the effectiveness of a specific sensory stimulation (4 modalities) in comparison with another sensory stimulation (5 modalities) on recovery in comatose patients following severe traumatic brain injury.

The study design was experimental, repeated measured with three groups. Two sensory stimulation models were compared with one control group. Forty-five participants with traumatic brain injury were recruited from surgical wards at Maharaj Nakhon Sri Thammarat Hospital, Thailand. The participants were randomly assigned to three groups, each group of 15 participants. Outcomes of the program were recovery determined by the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). Inter rater agreement of the CRS-R was 0.85. Descriptive statistics, Fisher's exact test, repeated measure analysis of variance, and post hoc comparison were used for data analysis.

All the patients were equally comparable regarding their baseline characteristics, and basic recovery determined by CRS-R. Recovery scores of the three groups were improved. However, those who received the sensory stimulation program (4 modalities) had significantly higher CRS-R scores (P<0.001) after 5 days when compared to the two other groups.

The sensory stimulation therapy had positive effects on traumatic brain injury patients. Application of the program required few stimuli materials which could be stored at the patient's bedside making them accessible to care providers. However, monitoring physiologic parameters should be done before, during and after the stimulation.