Introduction Individuals with acquired brain injury may find it difficult to self-manage and live independently. Brain-in-Hand is a smartphone app designed to support psychological problems and encourage behaviour change, comprised of a structured diary, reminders, agreed solutions, and traffic light monitoring system. Aim To evaluate the potential use and effectiveness of Brain-in-Hand for self-management in adults with acquired brain injury. Methods A-B mixed-methods case-study design. Individuals with acquired brain injury ( n = 10) received Brain-in-Hand for up to 12 months. Measures of mood, independence, quality of life, cognition, fatigue, goal attainment, participation administered at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Semi-structured interviews conducted with acquired brain injury participants ( n = 9) and healthcare workers ( n = 3) at 6 months. Results Significant increase in goal attainment after 6 months use (t(7) = 4.20, p = .004). No significant improvement in other outcomes. Qualitative data suggested improvement in anxiety management. Contextual (personal/environmental) factors were key in influencing the use and effectiveness of Brain-in-Hand. Having sufficient insight, appropriate support and motivation facilitated use. Conclusions Brain-in-Hand shows potential to support acquired brain injury, but further work is required to determine its effectiveness. Context played a pivotal role in the effectiveness and sustained use of Brain-in-Hand, and needs to be explored to support implementation.

Music technology can provide unique opportunities to allow access to music-making for clients with complex needs. While there is a growing trend of research in this area, technology has been shown to face a variety of issues leading to underuse in this context. This literature review is a collation of information from peer-reviewed publications, gray literature, and practice. Focusing on active music-making using new types of alternate controllers, this review aims to bring together information regarding the types of technology available, categorizes music technology and its use within the music therapy setting for clients with complex needs, catalogues work occurring within the field, and explores the issues and potentials surrounding music technology and its use in practice.

The voices of autistic children and their families are routinely underestimated and overlooked in research and practice. Research is challenged methodologically in accessing the views of autistic people who, by definition, are characterised by social and communication difficulties. Consequently, many voices remain unheard and experiences undocumented. This has important implications for the validity of research that is interested in improving the life experiences of marginalised groups since the representation of those experiences is partial and dominated by research perspectives that prioritise particular kinds of evidence. This situation matters because there remains a substantial gap between research and practice such that the longer-term outcomes for autistic people across social, educational and economic indices remain poor. We argue that research can only make an impact on practice if there is a genuine commitment to gathering and understanding these different sources of evidence in ways that connect research and practice from the start. This protocol describes a methodological project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK. The ‘Our Stories’ project applies and extends a participatory Digital Stories methodology to explore the research challenge of gathering a range of views from autistic children, families, and practice in authentic ways and at points of transition. Digital Stories is an accessible and inclusive methodology that supports the sharing of views and experiences in visual, video form. We describe the rationale for, and design, of the project across four pilot studies in different contexts as well as our approach to analysis and ethics. While our project focuses on autism, the knowledge we gain is applicable to research and practice much more widely and to any voices or groups who are marginalised from the traditional ways of doing research and to any contexts of practice.