An analysis of clinicians' verbal behaviors in a community reintegration program for traumatic brain injury survivors

The authors present an analysis of clinician verbal behaviors in the Community Reintegration Program, a treatment program for traumatic brain injury survivors. Experienced clinicians from different allied health professions were videotaped as they provided group treatment. Each clinician's verbal behaviors were coded using an adaptation of the Clinical Interaction Analysis System, a reliable system for describing verbal behaviors. Clinicians then participated in a structured interview with the investigators; during the interview, clinicians reviewed their treatment tape and stated what treatment goals they were working on during each utterance. The majority of the clinicians' behaviors fell into two categories: clinician-initiated discourse and explanation. Chi-square analyses revealed that these two categories occurred significantly more frequently than other coded categories. These two verbal codes predominated regardless of the goal being addressed and regardless of the professional background of the treating clinician.