A Home-Based Adaptive Collaborative System for Stroke Patient Rehabilitation

This paper describes research into the development of a collaborative home-based patient-therapist system for stroke patient rehabilitation. Our prototype system is designed so that home-based rehabilitation exercises are interactive and adapt to the progress of the patient. This way patients are encouraged to do the exercises most appropriate for their stage in the recovery process and can make the most of the time spent working on their rehabilitation. The system also keeps a record of patient progress that is communicated to the patient and medical professionals via mobile or personal-computer interfaces so they can work together towards a more effective overall plan for rehabilitation. This allows the physician to be better informed to make clinical decisions based on the progress of the patient. Results of early evaluations demonstrate the utility of our prototype system to provide users with a stimulating interactive experience as well as the systems potential to support medical experts to make more informed decisions relating to patient treatment. Results also indicate that patients feel more involved in their rehabilitation and that general communication between the medical experts and patients is improved.