Rehabilitation Oculomotor Screening Evaluation (ROSE)-A Proof-of-Principle Study for Acquired Brain Injuries.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Clinical Assessment Tools

Background:

• Acquired brain injury (ABI) is a leading cause of disability worldwide.
• Oculomotor dysfunction is common in ABI patients, negatively impacting daily life and rehabilitation.
• Existing clinical tools for assessing oculomotor function (OMF) have usability limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient tool for OMF screening in ABI patients.
• To assess the feasibility, acceptability, and relevance of the new tool in ABI and control participants.

Main Methods:

• The Rehabilitation Oculomotor Screening Evaluation (ROSE) was developed by reviewing existing OMF assessments.
• ROSE was pilot-tested on 10 ABI patients and 10 age-matched controls.
• Data on assessment duration, participant comprehension, and experience were collected.

Main Results:

• ROSE completion time averaged 12.5 minutes and was rated as easy to complete (4.6/5) and well-accepted (4.8/5).
• ABI patients scored significantly higher on all ROSE subtests and the total score compared to controls (34.8 vs. 8.9).
• Most subtests did not provoke symptoms, with no significant between-group differences in symptom provocation.

Conclusions:

• ROSE demonstrates feasibility, acceptability, and relevance for screening OMF in adult ABI patients.
• Further evaluation is needed for reliability testing and validation in larger, diverse neurological populations.
• Establishing normative data for ROSE is recommended for its clinical deployment.