Fama Mackenzie E, Baron Christine R, Hatfield Brooke, Turkeltaub Peter E
a MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital , Washington , DC , USA.
b Department of Neurology , Georgetown University Medical Center , Washington , DC , USA.
Top Stroke Rehabil. 2016 Aug;23(4):276-83. doi: 10.1080/10749357.2016.1155277. Epub 2016 Mar 16.
Individuals with aphasia often receive therapy from a speech-language pathologist during acute rehabilitation. The literature demonstrates that group-based therapy provides a natural, social environment for language rehabilitation in mild-moderate and/or chronic aphasia; however, the communication of persons with acute, severe non-fluent aphasia during group treatment has not been fully explored.
This observational study investigated patient communication during acute rehabilitation. The primary objective was to determine whether participants initiate more communication during group therapy sessions when compared to individual therapy sessions.
Ten participants with severe non-fluent aphasia were observed during one individual and one group session during their stay in an acute, inpatient rehabilitation facility. Communicative initiations were tallied and categorized based on type, target, and purpose.
Participants initiated communication more often during group sessions than during individual sessions. During groups, participants used more vocalizations and facial expressions to communicate, and the purpose was more often for social closeness than in individual sessions. Participants produced fewer different, real words in group vs. individual sessions, but other measures of communication skill did not differ significantly between the two settings.
In the aphasia group treatment described in this study, participants initiated more communication, with greater diversity of expressive modalities and more varied communicative purposes. Participants in group therapy also showed an increased tendency to communicate for the purpose of social closeness. These findings suggest that there are important differences in the communication of patients participating in group vs. individual speech therapy for treatment of acute, severe non-fluent aphasia.
失语症患者在急性康复期间通常会接受言语治疗师的治疗。文献表明，基于小组的治疗为轻中度和/或慢性失语症的语言康复提供了自然的社交环境；然而，急性、严重非流畅性失语症患者在小组治疗期间的交流情况尚未得到充分研究。
这项观察性研究调查了急性康复期间患者的交流情况。主要目的是确定与个体治疗相比，参与者在小组治疗期间是否发起更多交流。
在一家急性住院康复机构中，对10名患有严重非流畅性失语症的参与者在一次个体治疗和一次小组治疗期间进行了观察。根据类型、目标和目的对交流发起情况进行计数和分类。
参与者在小组治疗期间比在个体治疗期间更频繁地发起交流。在小组治疗期间，参与者使用更多的发声和面部表情进行交流，其目的更多是为了社交亲近，而不是个体治疗期间。与个体治疗相比，参与者在小组治疗中说出的不同实词较少，但两种治疗环境下的其他交流技能指标没有显著差异。
在本研究描述的失语症小组治疗中，参与者发起了更多交流，表达方式更加多样，交流目的也更加丰富。小组治疗中的参与者为社交亲近目的进行交流的倾向也有所增加。这些发现表明，在治疗急性、严重非流畅性失语症时，参与小组言语治疗与个体言语治疗的患者在交流方面存在重要差异。
