The La Trobe communication questionnaire (LCQ) was designed to measure perceived communicative ability. It was developed to enable collection of information from various sources including the self-perceptions of individuals as well as the perceptions of close others. In this paper we report the development of the questionnaire, its psychometric properties and normative data for the perceptions of young adults and the comparative perceptions of their close others. Participants in the study were 256 adults comprising 147 primary subjects and 109 close others. Primary subjects ranged in age from 16±39 years with a mean age of 20.6 years. The 30 item questionnaire was structured using a modi®ed Likert-type scale with four possible levels of response: (1) never or rarely ; (2) sometimes ; (3) often ; and (4) usually or always. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's alpha 5 0.8596) and good stability over time for self-report was demonstrated (r 5 0.7558). There was a signi®cant diåerence ( p ! 0.0001) between the perceptions of primary subjects and close others with primary subjects perceiving themselves to have more frequent communication di¬culties, than did their close others. Overall, our ®ndings suggest that the LCQ is a promising means of measuring perceived communicative ability in young adults.

This study was undertaken to better understand the subjective experience of long-term cognitive-communicative impairments following severe cerebral insult. An additional aim was to explore the utility of a model of interpersonal communication in elucidating how such difficulties affect communicative interactions. Participants in the study were five dyads in which one member had sustained a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Data collection and analysis utilized both qualitative and quantitative methodology. It was found that individuals with long-term TBI continue to experience significant communication difficulties, which in combination with problems of memory, fatigue and irritability commonly generate unsatisfactory interpersonal communication experiences. The model of interpersonal communication provided a useful framework for considering why these interactions are ineffective or unsatisfactory. It is felt that the methodology outlined in this paper may offer a useful means of investigating the relationship between neurogenic communication impairments/disabilities and interpersonal communication difficulties experienced by individuals from a variety of clinical populations.

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