Therapy of Pragmatic Disorders in Brain-damaged Individuals

NCT ID: NCT04708561

Last Updated: 2022-05-18

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 2 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-06-03
• Study Completion Date: 2022-04-30

Brief Summary

This study aims to assess speech therapy's effectiveness in understanding other people's thoughts (implied) using written stories. The main objective is to examine whether the therapy improves understanding of the stories worked on in the sessions. We also explore whether the observed progress is maintained one month after the end of treatment and whether it is generalized to neuropsychological tests, video material, and the participants' daily lives.

This therapy will be administered to four individuals with brain lesions, for six weeks, at the rate of two weekly sessions of one hour.

Conditions

Brain Injuries, Traumatic; Right Hemispheric Stroke

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Brain-injured participants

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Speech and language therapy

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The intervention focuses on understanding the thoughts of the characters. Twenty written stories will be used, which end with statements that can be interpreted literally, ironically, as a lie, a request or a faux-pas (maladroitness). At the end of each story, the participant should explain what the characters want to mean by their statement.

To help the participant in his understanding of the character's intention, he will be asked:

1) To mention as many intentions as possible that can be associated with the target statement presented out of context (eg: "it's hot here" that can be interpreted literally, ironically, as a lie or a request) and to imagine contexts in connection with interpretation; 2. Analyze the relevant elements of the context (environment, the relationship between the characters, knowledge of the characters); 3. To judge the probability of the possible interpretations (pt 1) by justifying using the elements of the context analyzed previously (pt 2).

Interventions

Speech and language therapy

The intervention focuses on understanding the thoughts of the characters. Twenty written stories will be used, which end with statements that can be interpreted literally, ironically, as a lie, a request or a faux-pas (maladroitness). At the end of each story, the participant should explain what the characters want to mean by their statement.

To help the participant in his understanding of the character's intention, he will be asked:

1) To mention as many intentions as possible that can be associated with the target statement presented out of context (eg: "it's hot here" that can be interpreted literally, ironically, as a lie or a request) and to imagine contexts in connection with interpretation; 2. Analyze the relevant elements of the context (environment, the relationship between the characters, knowledge of the characters); 3. To judge the probability of the possible interpretations (pt 1) by justifying using the elements of the context analyzed previously (pt 2).

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Have been the victim, in adulthood, of a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a stroke, with at least right frontal lesions (objectified by imaging). The time between the TBI or stroke and participation in this study should be greater than six months.
• Be of French mother tongue or have an excellent mastery of French.
• Be between 20 and 65 years old.
• Be right-handed
• Present problems in the understanding of non-literal language (irony, indirect requests), objectified by a neuropsychological examination.

Exclusion Criteria

• Have a history of psychiatric disorder affecting social cognition (according to DSM-V criteria), and more specifically: autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, major depressive disorders, borderline personality disorders, generalized anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, phobia social and eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia).
• Have chronic symptoms of an alcohol or drug dependence disorder (according to DSM-V criteria).
• Have significant uncorrected vision and/or hearing problems.
• Have aphasia and/or significant reading and comprehension problems.
• Present significant spatial neglect.
• Present an impaired capacity for judgment and discernment, objectified by a neuropsychological evaluation.
• Have been the victim of several TBI or stroke

• Minimum Eligible Age: 20 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of Neuchatel

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Marion Fossard

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Université de Neuchâtel

Neuchâtel, , Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

Other Identifiers

Unine2020-00301

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id