Quantifying Experiences with Telepractice for Aphasia Therapy: A Text Mining Analysis of Client Response Data

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Measuring treatment satisfaction in aphasia (PWA) is challenging due to limited verbal output.
• Existing satisfaction measures are insufficient for individuals with reduced verbal abilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To utilize content analysis (CA) for measuring posttreatment satisfaction with telepractice aphasia therapy.
• To assess the efficacy of CA in evaluating satisfaction among PWA with limited verbal output.

Main Methods:

• Seventeen persons with aphasia (PWA) underwent 12 telepractice sessions over 6 weeks.
• Content analysis (CA) was applied to patient responses to gauge satisfaction.
• Analysis focused on identifying themes and sentiment in participant feedback.

Main Results:

• Participants reported overall positive sentiment towards the telepractice aphasia treatment.
• Key themes identified were 'healthcare provider' and 'healthcare delivery', described as 'helpful' and 'effective'.
• CA successfully captured satisfaction insights from PWA with limited verbal output.

Conclusions:

• Content analysis (CA) is an effective method for assessing satisfaction with aphasia teletherapy.
• CA provides valuable insights into patient satisfaction, especially for those with communication impairments.
• Telepractice shows promise as an effective aphasia treatment delivery method.