Background: Head injury is a major cause of mortality and long-term disability and frequently results in impaired consciousness requiring intensive neurological care. Coma Arousal Therapy (CAT), a structured multisensory stimulation programme, may enhance cortical activation and promote recovery of consciousness. However, evidence regarding its effectiveness in Indian clinical settings is limited.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of Coma Arousal Therapy on the level of consciousness among patients with head injury admitted to selected hospitals in Salem, Tamil Nadu.

Methods: A quantitative quasi-experimental, non-randomized pretest-posttest control group design was adopted. Sixty patients with head injury were selected through purposive sampling and assigned to an experimental group (n=30) and control group (n=30). The experimental group received CAT in addition to routine nursing care, while the control group received routine care alone. CAT for 20–25 minutes twice daily for seven consecutive days. Level of consciousness was assessed using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and Coma Recovery Scale (CRS). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used, with significance set at p<0.05.

Results: The experimental group showed greater improvement in consciousness than the control group. Mean GCS scores increased from 5.50±1.10 to 11.06±1.43 in the experimental group, compared with 5.10±0.77 to 8.60±1.41 in the control group. Mean CRS scores increased from 6.56±1.60 to 14.90±2.88 in the experimental group and from 5.86±0.97 to 10.73±1.91 in the control group. The paired t-test demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in GCS scores in the experimental group (t=23.19, p<0.05).

Conclusion: Coma Arousal Therapy was effective in improving the level of consciousness among patients with head injury. Structured multisensory stimulation may be incorporated into routine neurocritical nursing care as a simple, non-invasive and cost-effective supportive intervention.