The behaviour of stroke patients in unsupervised computer-administered aphasia therapy.

Little is known about how patients behave when they are undertaking programmes of work at home, between clinical sessions. Concern has been expressed about the possibility of potentially harmful behaviour patterns being adopted when computers are used in this mode of therapy. This paper reports on two sets of trials, each involving 10 patients; however, due to disk corruption, full data are available for a total of 17 subjects. Data were captured which enabled analysis of length of session, timing of session, and patterns of use over the 6-week period of each trial. No evidence of harmful behaviour was found. Patients tended to work in sessions broadly comparable in length with clinical practice. There was also a proportionate amount of work done in the evenings and at weekends, outside normal clinical hours.