Telephone versus Face to Face communication in dysphasic stroke patients

A comparison of face to face versus telephone communication ability in individuals with a stroke related communication disorder

Status

Terminated

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12605000499684

Enrollment

Registered

2005-09-23

Start date

2005-11-01

Completion date

2006-12-18

Last updated

2020-02-10

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

Aphasia is a communication disorder that occurs following a stroke. Some families or friends of aphasic stroke patients at TPMH have spontaneously reported that their relatives communication during telephone conversations (TC) appears superior to their face to face conversations (FFC). This study seeks to determine whether this impression can be confirmed by comparing the patients communicative ability in these two settings. The study is also interested in establishing; (1) whether the familiarity (of the aphasic speaker) with their conversation partner influences the individuals communication in these settings and, (2) whether different types of aphasia alter the individuals communicative ability in these settings.There will be a minimum of one and a maximum of 10 participants. The method will be a series of single subject designs. Each patient will represent a single case study, which can stand alone, but when sufficient cases are collected, group results will be analysed. This is a single subject, quasi experimental ABAB paired design with each patient acting as his or her own control. The following will be analysed and compared for each patient - language impairment, communication functioning, relationship of conversation partner to participant. For each conversation, the conversation partner will be requested to indicate the level of difficulty \ ease (using a visual analogue scale) that they experienced whilst communicating with the patient. Each conversation will be for maximum of 10 minutes, but due to severity of the aphasia, it is anticipated that many conversation sets may be shorter than this. Each study may stand alone but if/when sufficient cases are collected, group results may be analysed. The total time period for any one patient to complete all conversations is within 14 days.

Interventions

Observational study to address whether there are differences in communication style/techniques between face-face conversation vs telephone conversations with the same communication partner.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

0 to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

All consecutive stroke patients admitted to Stroke rehabilitation ward at The Princess margaret Hospital, Christchurch NZ are currently screened for communication disorder. From October 3 2005 every second patient will be requested to participate. The screening tool includes a benign question to introduce the topic of telephone communication. Patients (or their families) who provide positive responses to these telephone questions, or who report at any time in therapy, that communication over the phone is superior, will also be referred to the research project.

Exclusion criteria

Those unwilling to participate or who do not have a familiar communication partner available for the study.

Outcome results