Abstract for HONS 10/15 - Computer Science and Software Engineering - University of Canterbury - New Zealand

Abstract for HONS 10/15

Using Context Within Computer-Aided Rehabilitation to Increase Motivation for People with Aphasia

David Sowry
Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering
University of Canterbury

Abstract

Computer-based rehabilitation has been found to be effective for those who suffer from cognitive deficits due to brain injury including people with aphasia (PWA). Most aphasia rehabilitation is repetitive and drill-based, often requiring the patient to practice mentally retrieving words to complete sentences. This can be tiring, frustrating, and sometimes de-motivating for the PWA. Furthermore, there are higher rates of depression in PWA. Depression leads to lowered motivation. The goal of this project is to build an application to aid rehabilitation based on the theories of motivation previously used primarily in education. This project includes phases for understanding current popular rehabilitation methods, evaluating features of current software, requirements gathering, designing. Due to the exploratory nature of the project the lean process was chosen to be used. Three iterations were performed after an initial domain familiarity. The final implementation involved creating two different applications: an online PostgreSQL backed RESTful server with a web based frontend for PWA and the other as a local java swing based question creator tool that allows medical practitioners to create personalised problems.
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