Multimodal, Enriched Environment for Rehabilitation

The team has created this environment via the Metro Cafe, a small cafe equipped with a free-standing overhead frame on an adjustable body weight support system.

The frame allows participants to move in a small area and is designed to prevent falls and reduce some of the individual’s body weight, making mobility easier. Participants in this portion of the study will operate a small Cafe serving food and drinks. The goal of this therapy is for participants to practice job activities that involve motor, social and cognitive skills.

The main questions the study aims to answer are:

• What is the amount of therapy dosage (speech, cognition, arm and leg movements) obtained during the Metro Cafe therapy session.
• What is the connection between environmental enrichment dosage at the Metro Cafe and clinical outcome scores.

Researchers will compare Metro Cafe treatment to those who do not receive this treatment to see if better improvements in function after a traumatic brain injury are seen in the Metro Cafe Treatment.

Participants will train in the Metro Cafe during the 2-month gap between assessments, for a total of 18 training sessions, each up to 2 hours, 3 times per week. Participants will greet and serve customers drinks and snacks, maintain food supplies at the counters and perform housekeeping tasks with advice and assistance from a supervising researcher as needed.

Detailed study information is available at https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06734026.