Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, Boston University, MA.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2021 Dec 13;64(12):4861-4875. doi: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00023. Epub 2021 Nov 3.
Evidence has shown that group conversation treatment may improve communication and reduce social isolation for people with aphasia. However, little is known about the impact of conversation group treatment on measures of discourse. This project explored the impact of conversation treatment on measures of monologic discourse.
In this randomized controlled trial, 48 participants with chronic aphasia were randomly assigned to dyadic, large group, or control conditions. Conversation group treatment was provided for 1 hr, twice per week, for 10 weeks. Discourse samples were collected and coded at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 6-week maintenance. There were three narrative tasks: (a) Comprehensive Aphasia Test (CAT) picture description, (b) Cat Rescue Picture, and (c) Cinderella retell. All narratives were coded using the percent correct information units (percent CIUs), the CAT standardized narrative analysis method, and the complete utterance (CU) method.
No significant changes were observed on percent CIU, which was the primary outcome measure. The treated groups demonstrated improvement on aspects of the CU method following treatment, whereas the control group did not. Significant changes were observed for other CIU measures and the CAT standardized narrative analysis in both the treated and control groups.
The results suggest that the CU measures were more sensitive to the effects of conversation treatment in monologic discourse compared to CIU and CAT measures. Changes were more common in absolute rather than relative values, suggesting that conversation treatment impacts the overall amount of language produced rather than efficiency of production.
有证据表明，小组对话治疗可能会改善失语症患者的沟通能力并减少社交孤立感。然而，对于对话组治疗对话语测量的影响知之甚少。本项目探讨了对话治疗对独白话语测量的影响。
在这项随机对照试验中，将 48 名慢性失语症患者随机分配到双人、大组和对照组。对话组治疗每周进行两次，每次 1 小时，共进行 10 周。在治疗前、治疗后和 6 周维持期收集并编码话语样本。有三项叙述任务：（a）全面失语症测试（CAT）图片描述、（b）Cat Rescue 图片和（c）灰姑娘复述。所有叙述均采用正确信息单位百分比（percent CIUs）、CAT 标准化叙述分析方法和完整话语（CU）方法进行编码。
主要结局测量指标的 CIU 百分比没有显著变化。治疗组在治疗后 CU 方法的各个方面均有所改善，而对照组则没有。治疗组和对照组的其他 CIU 测量值和 CAT 标准化叙述分析均有显著变化。
结果表明，与 CIU 和 CAT 测量值相比，CU 测量值对对话治疗在独白话语中的影响更为敏感。变化更常见于绝对值而非相对值，这表明对话治疗会影响语言产出的整体量，而不是产出效率。
