Development and Simulation Testing of a Computerized Adaptive Measure of Communicative Functioning in Aphasia

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT), based on the mathematical framework of item response theory (IRT), has increasingly been implemented in patient reported outcome measures over the past decade (Fries, Bruce, & Cella, 2005). Given a calibrated item pool fit by an appropriate IRT measurement model, a CAT can produce reliable ability estimates more efficiently than traditional paper-and-pencil tests by administering items that are most informative given the examinee’s estimated ability level (Wainer, 2000). As conventional measures employed in the measurement of aphasia were developed under traditional measurement theory, many of these measures are long and inefficient, and are consequently unsuitable for regular clinical care. In addition, these conventional measures often fail to meet the needs of many community-dwelling stroke survivors whose impairments falls outside the range reliably measured by these tests (Doyle et al. 2012). IRT-based and in particular CAT patient reported outcome measures offer the possibility of substantial improvements in measurement technology for persons with aphasia

Clinical Management of a Patient With Pure Word Deafness

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Long-term survival characteristics in stroke induced aphasia

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The Effect of Syntax Training on "Adequacy" of Communication in Broca's Aphasia: A Social Validation Study

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Treatment for Acquired Apraxia of Speech: A Review of Efficacy Reports

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Conflict Resolution and Goal Maintenance Components of Executive Attention are Impaired in Persons With Aphasia: Evidence from the Picture-Word Interference Task

The relationship between language processing and attention has been a topic of research in linguistics, psychology and speech-language pathology for a very long time. Following the hypothesis that attention (e.g., Kahneman, 1973) may be related to impaired language performance in aphasia (McNeil, 1982), researchers have increasingly investigated this hypothesis (McNeil, Odell, & Tseng, 1991; Murray, 1999; Robin & Rizzo, 1989; Tseng, McNeil, & Milenkovic, 1993)

The WHO-DAS II: Psychometric Properties in the Measurement of Functional Health Status in Adults With Acquired Hearing Loss

The World Health Organization\u27s (WHO) Disability Assessment Scale II (WHO-DAS II) is a generic health-status instrument firmly grounded in the WHO\u27s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (WHO-ICF). As such, it assesses functioning for six domains: communication, mobility, self-care, interpersonal, life activities, and participation. Domain scores aggregate to a total score. Because the WHO-DAS II contains questions relevant to hearing and communication, it has good face validity for use as an outcome measure for audiologic intervention. The purpose of the present study was to determine the psychometric properties of the WHO-DAS II on a sample of individuals with adult-onset hearing loss, including convergent validity, internal consistency, and test-retest stability. Convergent validity was established by examining correlations between the WHO-DAS II (domain and total scores) and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) and the Hearing Aid Handicap for the Elderly (HHIE), two disease-specific measures, as well as with the Short Form-36 for veterans (SF-36V), a second generic measure. Data on all four measures were collected from 380 older individuals with adult-onset hearing loss who were not hearing aid users. The results of the convergent validity analysis revealed that the WHO-DAS II communication domain score was moderately and significantly correlated with scores on the APHAB and the HHIE. WHO-DAS II interpersonal and participation domain scores and the total scores were also moderately and significantly correlated with HHIE scores. These findings support the validity of using the WHO-DAS II for assessing activity limitations and participation restrictions of adult-onset hearing loss. Several WHO-DAS II domain scores and the total score were also significantly and moderately-markedly correlated with scores from the SF-36V. These findings support the validity of the WHO-DAS II as a generic health-status instrument. Internal consistency reliability for all the domain scores was adequate for all but the interpersonal domain. Test-retest stability for all the domain scores was adequate. Critical difference values were calculated for use in clinical application of the WHO-DAS II. From these findings, we concluded that the WHO-DAS II communication, participation, and total scores can be used to examine the effects of adult-onset hearing loss on functional health status. Further work examining the utility of the WHO-DAS II as an outcome measure for hearing aid intervention is warranted