Patterns of Conversation Trouble Source and Repair as Indices of Improved Conversation in Aphasia: A Multiple-Case...

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Psychology

Background:

• Social approaches are increasingly used for aphasia intervention.
• Conversation-based treatment (CBT) in groups and dyads addresses functional communication barriers.
• Objective outcome measures for CBT are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the utility of conversation trouble source and repair patterns as objective indices of improved communication.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of conversation-based treatment in persons with aphasia.

Main Methods:

• 20 participants with aphasia received 3 months or 40 hours of CBT.
• Conversations were transcribed using conversation analysis conventions.
• Sociolinguistic discourse analysis was applied to measure trouble source and repair patterns.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant improvements were observed in the rate of conversation trouble sources and the length of repair sequences post-treatment.
• Measures of self-initiation and self-completion of repair did not reach statistical significance.
• Conversations of persons with aphasia became more efficient post-CBT.

Conclusions:

• Measures of conversation trouble source rate and repair sequence length are valid indices of improved communication following CBT.
• CBT leads to more efficient conversations for persons with aphasia.
• Further research may explore self-initiation and self-completion measures.