Interpersonal communication skills in the traumatic brain injury population : an analysis across situations

ABSTRACT This thesis investigates a range of everyday interactions of traumatic brain injury (TBI) subjects when compared with control subjects to examine whether there are differences in the overall structure of interactions, in the way information is exchanged and in the wording which is used. Analyses from systemic functional linguistics including generic structure potential analysis, exchange structure analysis and analysis of politeness markers were used to examine the interactional impairments reported to follow TBI. Results indicated that TBI subjects differed from controls in their use of interpersonal language resources. These differences were exaggerated when subjects were interacting with someone in authority. When placed in a more powerful role, TBI subjects were able to utilise language resources to a similar extent to controls across the three levels of analysis. This thesis has important implications for the assessment and management of interactional communication impairments which may follow TBI, including suggestions for therapy with the person with TBI and for communication partners of people with TBI including therapists, family members and the community

Interpersonal communication skills in the traumatic brain injury population: An analysis across situations

ABSTRACT This thesis investigates a range of everyday interactions of traumatic brain injury (TBI) subjects when compared with control subjects to examine whether there are differences in the overall structure of interactions, in the way information is exchanged and in the wording which is used. Analyses from systemic functional linguistics including generic structure potential analysis, exchange structure analysis and analysis of politeness markers were used to examine the interactional impairments reported to follow TBI. Results indicated that TBI subjects differed from controls in their use of interpersonal language resources. These differences were exaggerated when subjects were interacting with someone in authority. When placed in a more powerful role, TBI subjects were able to utilise language resources to a similar extent to controls across the three levels of analysis. This thesis has important implications for the assessment and management of interactional communication impairments which may follow TBI, including suggestions for therapy with the person with TBI and for communication partners of people with TBI including therapists, family members and the community

Information exchange in chatroom conversations of people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI)

This study describes how people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) exchange information in small chatroom groups. Each of the ten participants with moderate-severe TBI and twelve control participants conversed with two unknown communication partners in a moderated chatroom on two occasions. Rates of information exchange were measured. Statistically significant differences were found in the: (1) frequency of information requests made by TBI participants and (2) frequency of information giving and negotiation/repair by communication partners of TBI participants (both reduced in the TBI group). Further research is required to validate results and explore the impact of alternate chatroom compositions

Training paid caregivers to improve their conversations with people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Paid caregivers are frequently involved in the lives of people with TBI with cognitive-communication disorders but no research has evaluated training to improve their interactions. This paper describes an RCT that evaluates a communication partner-training program for paid caregivers of people with TBI. Training was found to improve the skills of paid caregivers and have a significant impact on conversations that involved people with TBI. The long-term effectiveness of the intervention was demonstrated with skills maintained at 6-months follow-up. This research has implications for health professionals that work both with paid caregivers and people with severe TBI

Functional Workplace Communication Elicitation for Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: People with traumatic brain injury have characteristic pragmatic language deficits linked to unstable employment outcomes. Aims: A functional workplace communication elicitation procedure designed to assess expressive pragmatics is described. Methods & Procedures: Twenty participants with TBI,10 stably employed and 10 with unstable employment, recorded voicemail messages. Transcripts were analyzed using exchange structure analysis, codes for politeness and linguistic mazes. Outcomes & Results: Participants with unstable employment histories after TBI produced fewer politeness markers and provided information less efficiently than a stably employed cohort. Conclusions: The voicemail elicitation task differentiates high-level communication skills related to workplace outcomes in TBI

Casual conversations between individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their friends

Aim: To investigate casual conversation with friends following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: Nine participants with severe TBI and nine matched controls recorded a casual conversation with a friend. Exchange Structure Analysis was used to provide rates of information giving, requesting and repair. Results: Participants with and without TBI produced similar rates of information giving and requesting. Friends of the participants with TBI produced significantly lower rates of information giving when compared to the controls, but achieved comparable rates of requesting and repair. Conclusions: Casual conversations with friends may be a useful rehabilitative context for people with TBI

Use of politeness markers with different communication partners: an investigation of five subjects with traumatic brain injury

Politeness is a complex interpersonal phenomenon which has received considerable attention by linguists over recent years. This paper presents preliminary work which examines some methodological and theoretical issues related to the concept of politeness using the systemic functional approach. Results are presented for five traumatically brain injured subjects and five matched controls during telephone interactions with four different interlocutors. The results indicate that TBI subjects are able to access a wide variety of politeness strategies; however, their ability to manipulate these across the four different tenor relationships is impaired when compared with control subjects. The richness of this approach in highlighting the unique features of communication disorders following traumatic brain injury and new ways to approach their management is discussed

Communication skills of people with severe traumatic brain injury can be improved by training everyday communication partners: Findings from a single-blind multi-centre clinical trial

This controlled group comparison study examined the effectiveness of everyday communication partner (ECP) training for people with TBI. 44 participants with severe TBI and their ECPs were allocated to a) TBI SOLO group where the person with TBI was trained; b) JOINT group where the communication partner was also trained; or c) a delayed CONTROL. Conversations were videotaped pre and post training and rated by two blind assessors on conversational skills. Training ECPs was more efficacious than training the person with TBI alone. Involving communication partners in treatment appears crucial for improved communication interactions for people with severe TBI