Communication Partner Intervention for Cognitive and Pragmatic Skills in Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Purpose: Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) may encounter problems in cognitive-communication and pragmatic skills. This study aimed to investigate the effects of communication partner intervention (CPI) on cognitive-pragmatic skills in a case with TBI. Method: A 22-year-old female case with TBI and the case’s relative participated in the study. The case and her relative were assessed by using the Turkish versions of La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ-TR) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA-TR) along with subjective clinician evaluation at the third and sixth months following the incident. After the initial assessment, 14 strategies within the context of CPI were used over three sessions with the case’s relative. Results: The scores of MoCA-TR test and LCQ-TR increased following CPI. There were differences between the scores obtained from two applications in both assessment tools which reflected a positive improvement related to communication skills. Conclusion: In a case with TBI, CPI can be effective in supporting cognitive and pragmatic skills in the short term.

Keywords

• traumatic brain injury
• social communication
• cognitive communication
• communication partner intervention
• travmatik beyin hasar
• sosyal i̇letişim
• kognitif i̇letişim
• i̇letişim partneri müdahalesi