Incorporating Strategy Training Into Naming Treatment in Aphasia

NCT05307796 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2021P000705
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 10
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study incorporates metacognitive strategy training into semantic feature analysis treatment. Semantic feature analysis treatment has a strong evidence base and capacity to improve word retrieval by encouraging circumlocution. Circumlocution facilitates self-cued naming and assists listener comprehension when naming fails. However, semantic feature analysis treatment does not include direct techniques to teach patients with aphasia to generalize the use of semantic feature analysis treatment's circumlocution procedure. Therefore, this study proposes that combining semantic feature analysis treatment and metacognitive strategy training will stimulate the semantic system and increase patients with aphasias' use of circumlocution across divergent contexts. This study aims to measure the treatment's effect on naming accuracy for trained and untrained items. The study also aim to measure the treatment's effect on people with aphasias' knowledge of the strategy components and changes in verbalizations during retrieval attempts. The central hypothesis is that strategy training will increase patients with aphasias' explicit knowledge about circumlocution and enable them to use it to (1) self-facilitate naming, and (2) produce more informative connected speech.

Conditions

Aphasia

Keywords

Aphasia; Naming; Circumlocution

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Naming accuracy

  Number of pictures named accurately when looking at a series of 176 object pictures

  Change from baseline at 6 months

• Strategy Use

  Number of instances of circumlocution in moments of naming difficulty when looking at a series of 176 object pictures

  Change from baseline at 6 months

• Strategy Knowledge

  Number of strategy components (out of 6) participants identify (verbally or gesturally) independently

  Change from baseline at 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Content Information Units

  Change from baseline at 6 months

Study Arms (1)

Semantic Feature Analysis plus metacognitive strategy training

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants attend three treatment sessions per week for eight weeks. Treatment sessions include: strategy education (participants learn about anomia, circumlocution, and circumlocution's purpose), Semantic Feature Analysis plus strategy application (participants build self-awareness and practice circumlocution), and strategy debriefing (participants reflect and receive feedback on their performance, and generate scenarios in which they could use the strategy in everyday life).

Behavioral: Strategy training

Interventions

Strategy training BEHAVIORAL

The strategy training of focus in this study is metacognitive strategy training intended to build awareness of naming and methods to overcome instances of difficult naming. Strategy training involves (a) teaching the participant to identify instances in which they are unable to name objects, (b) learn a 6-feature framework (e.g. group, use, action) that has been identified to support semantic feature activation in aphasia, (c) learn and practice strategies to utilize the framework in instances of word finding difficulty

Semantic Feature Analysis plus metacognitive strategy training

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 89 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Experienced a single left-hemisphere stroke,
• Have aphasia due to stroke,
• Be in the chronic stages of their aphasia, at least 6 months post onset of stroke.
• Be between the ages of 18 and 89 years of age, and
• Be a proficient English speaker,
• Have no history of neurodegenerative disease, motor speech disorder, significant mental illness, psychiatric disorder, drug/alcohol abuse, or neurological condition that could influence their cognitive, language, and memory systems.

You may not qualify if:

• Experienced multiple strokes;
• Be in the acute stage of their aphasia, \<6 months post onset of stroke;
• Have a diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease, significant mental illness, psychiatric disorder, drug/alcohol abuse, or neurological condition that could influence cognitive, language, and memory systems

Sponsors & Collaborators

• MGH Institute of Health Professions: lead
• LSVT Global: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

MGH-Institute of Health Professions

Boston, Massachusetts, 02129, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Aphasia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Speech Disorders; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Sofia Vallila Rohter, PhD

  MGH Institute of Health Professions

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 22, 2022
• First Posted: April 1, 2022
• Study Start: August 30, 2021
• Primary Completion: May 11, 2022
• Study Completion: May 11, 2022
• Last Updated: March 13, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: Data requests can be submitted starting 9 months after article publication and will be made accessible for up to 24 months
• Access Criteria: Access to trial individual participant data can be requested by qualified researchers engaging in independent scientific research, and will be provided following review and approval of a research proposal and Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP) and execution of a Data Sharing Agreement (DSA).

Locations

US (1)