A Survey to Determine How Occupational Therapists in Ontario Rehabilitation Units are Using Microcomputers for Patient Treatment in Clinical Programs

Abstract

Thirty four Ontario Rehabilitation units were surveyed to determine how occupational therapists use microcomputers for patient treatment. Twelve rehabilitation units (35.3% of the sample) presently have microcomputers and 11 of these units have recently purchased the microcomputer for clinical use. Stroke, head injury and spinal cord injury patients were identified as the population that use the microcomputer. The APPLE 11 microcomputer was the most popular type chosen by rehabilitation units. Commercially available software programs are used for cognitive, perceptual, educational and recreational purposes. Satisfaction level with the quality of the software, however, was only 42.8%. Finally, it was noted that the speech therapist was the primary professional who liaised with the occupational therapist.