Social communication skills group treatment: A feasibility study for persons with traumatic brain injury and comorbid conditions

Abstract

Participants showed improvement on subjective social communication skills measures post-treatment and at follow-up, demonstrating potential efficacy of the intervention in a broader population of persons with TBI, worthy of further investigation.

Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment

“…In particular, our results are in line with studies reporting the efficacy of specific interventions in changing the psychosocial functioning and reorganization of everyday behaviors of these patients, focusing on social communication, 73 social skills, 42 self-regulation, and self-awareness 75 and on cognitive components, related to communication abilities such as attentive processes 2 executive functions 76 and meta-cognitive strategies. 77 Moreover, our research indicated that the improvement at the communicative-pragmatic level remained stable in time: the effect of the treatment was maintained at 3-month follow-up.…”

“…When considered overall, these preliminary results confirm previous findings 3,42,73,74 according to which chronic patients can also continue to learn and improve their abilities even years after the injury occurred. In particular, our results are in line with studies reporting the efficacy of specific interventions in changing the psychosocial functioning and reorganization of everyday behaviors of these patients, focusing on social communication, 73 social skills, 42 self-regulation, and self-awareness 75 and on cognitive components, related to communication abilities such as attentive processes 2 executive functions 76 and meta-cognitive strategies.…”

From Semantic to Social Deficits: Dysfunction of the Nondominant Posterior Perisylvian Area in Schizophrenia

“…[52][53][54][55][56] Such efforts are mostly addressed at ameliorating the aprosodia resulting from these lesions 57 as well as improving conversational capacity and knowledge of social rules, both of which are impaired in patients with right hemispheric lesions. 55,56,58 To our knowledge, no studies have aimed to improve identification and naming of emotional and mental states in other persons. On the basis of the evidence reviewed herein, we suggest that language rehabilitation should also be included and should specifically address improving the preciseness of the patients' lexicon to name …”

Early conversational discourse abilities following traumatic brain injury: An acute predictive study

“…With regards to treatment, a recent evidence-based review recommended intervention for functional communication deficits, including pragmatic conversational skills to improve social communication skills after TBI as a practice standard [66]. To date, most intervention programmes for social communication skills reported in the literature have dealt with individuals several months post-TBI [67][68][69]. Further research would be required to determine how early problems with conversational discourse evolve in the more chronic stages and if working on conversational discourse impairment in the acute or sub-acute phase of recovery has an impact on long-term communication abilities and functional outcome with regard to family interaction, academic performance, social integration and employability.…”