Motor and Cognitive Telerehabilitation for Acquired Brain Injury

The overall objective of the study is to compare upper limb cognitive and motor rehabilitation programs delivered via tele-rehabilitation and in-person, in order to evaluate their overall impact on the rehabilitation process of subjects with GCA outcomes at the end of the subacute phase.

The study is a controlled clinical trial aimed at evaluating the efficacy and feasibility of cognitive and motor rehabilitation programs delivered in person or via tele-rehabilitation. Sixty-two subjects, aged 18 to 75, of both sexes, will be consecutively enrolled at the three participating centers. The sample size was calculated assuming a change of 15 points (standard deviation 20) on the Brief Neuropsychological Examination (BNE), with alpha = 0.05, beta = 0.2, and a power of 80%. A 10% margin was added to the resulting number (28 subjects per group) for potential dropouts. The ENB was chosen as the primary measure because, validated in the Italian population, it allows for a comprehensive, multidomain assessment that is sensitive to changes in the main cognitive domains (attention, memory, language, executive and praxic functions), also allowing for the evaluation of treatment efficacy over time, with short administration times and good tolerability in patients with GCA outcomes. Recent multicenter studies have confirmed its reliability and clinical relevance in this population. Subjects will be assigned to two treatment groups using block randomization, stratified by age, gender, and baseline functional level. This procedure was adopted to reduce potential bias and ensure greater comparability between groups. However, a geographical restriction will be maintained: patients unable to physically access the facility will be included in the tele-rehabilitation group (TG), but will follow the same stratification and randomization procedure, ensuring methodological consistency and allowing for dedicated sensitivity analyses. The in-person treatment group (GP) will complete 50-minute sessions, three times a week for eight weeks, at the rehabilitation center. The tele-rehabilitation treatment group (TG) will complete a similar program at home, with the same frequency and duration, via dedicated platforms. Sixty-two subjects (18-75 years old, both genders) will be consecutively enrolled at the three participating centers upon discharge from hospital rehabilitation. Patients will be assigned equally to the two groups (in-person treatment and tele-rehabilitation) using block randomization stratified by age, gender, and functional level.