Takeaway
There is a dose-response relationship between the ‘dose’ of content-aware measures of rehabilitation, particularly the fraction of time dedicated to active practice and motor learning, and global functional outcomes in pediatric acquired brain injury (ABI).
Why this matters
ABI describes brain injuries that emerge after a period of normal neurodevelopment. Injuries will often emerge suddenly and may be sufficiently severe to require in-patient rehabilitation.
It is challenging to predict the effect of rehabilitation on functional outcomes. A crude measure of total rehabilitation dose (in hours) is problematic and best viewed as a composite outcome of time spent in active practice and relearning versus significant amounts of time not expected to directly result in functional gains.
A ‘content-aware’ approach to assessing rehabilitation dose is anticipated to provide clearer information about the benefits of rehabilitation on functional outcome in pediatric ABI.