Community Access for the Brain Injury Population

对于那些创伤性脑损伤(TBI)的幸存者来说，社会孤立是一个严重的问题。这些人中的许多人在社交、行为、身体和认知功能方面都会发生长期的变化。典型的脑外伤幸存者是年轻到中年的成年人，他们要么和家人住在政府资助的住房里，要么住在自己的房子或公寓里，这种情况比较罕见。幸存者普遍受到社会孤立的困扰。该项目侧重于社会隔离的一个方面，即社区准入。许多TBI幸存者无法独自旅行去商店、看病、参加社区社交活动。他们不仅发现无法在社区内开车，而且在使用公共汽车系统或甚至步行前往目的地时也存在问题。显然，以可穿戴导航设备为形式的高科技具有帮助的潜力。缺少的是(1)关于TBI幸存者进入其社区的实际需求的可靠数据，(2)评估幸存者个人在使用导航设备方面的技能和损伤的手段，(3)产生培训计划和将幸存者与定制设备相匹配的“处方”的过程。这份提案回答了这些问题中的每一个。它的结果将使辅助技术行业能够(A)制造对脑外伤人群有用的设备，以及(B)进行必要的匹配，以将正确的设备送到个人手中。广泛影响：患病率估计在250万到650万人之间，随着事故现场医疗程序、紧急医疗护理和神经外科的进步，这个数字还在增长。最严重的创伤性脑损伤的发生率高于脊髓损伤、多发性硬化症、脑瘫和肌营养不良症的总和。

Social isolation is an acute problem for those who are survivors of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Many of these individuals are left with long-lasting alterations in social, behavioral, physical, and cognitive functions. A typical TBI survivor is a young to mid-life adult, living either in government-assisted housing, with their family, or in rarer cases in their own house or apartment. Survivors are universally afflicted with social isolation. This project focuses on one aspect of social isolation, that of community access. Many TBI survivors are unable to do independent travel to go to the store, to see a doctor, to attend a community social event. Not only do they find it impossible to drive within the community, they also have problems using the bus system or even traveling by foot to a destination. It is clear that high technology, in the form of wearable navigation devices, has potential to help. What is missing are (1) solid data on the actual needs of TBI survivors in accessing their community, (2) a means to assess the skills and impairments of individual survivors in terms of using navigation devices, (3) a process that produces both a training plan and a "prescription" that matches a survivor with a custom device. This proposal takes on each of these questions. Its results will allow the assistive technology industry to (a) build devices that are useful to the TBI population, and (b) do the matching that is necessary to get the right device into the hands of an individual.Broader Impacts: Prevalence estimates range from 2.5 to 6.5 million individuals living with the consequences of TBI, with that number growing with advances in medical procedures at the scene of the accident, in emergency medical care, and in neurosurgery. The incidence rates for the most severe traumatic brain injuries are higher than those for spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy combined.