What Matters in Semantic Feature Analysis: Practice-Related Predictors of Treatment Response in Aphasia.

Purpose: This study investigated the predictive value of practice-related variables-number of treatment trials delivered, total treatment time, average number of trials per hour, and average number of participant-generated features per trial-in response to semantic feature analysis (SFA) treatment. Method: SFA was administered to 17 participants with chronic aphasia daily for 4 weeks. Individualized treatment and semantically related probe lists were generated from items that participants were unable to name consistently during baseline testing. Treatment was administered to each list sequentially in a multiple-baseline design. Naming accuracy for treated and untreated items was obtained at study entry, exit, and 1-month follow-up. Results: Item-level naming accuracy was analyzed using logistic mixed-effect regression models. The average number of features generated per trial positively predicted naming accuracy for both treated and untreated items, at exit and follow-up. In contrast, total treatment time and average trials per hour did not significantly predict treatment response. The predictive effect of number of treatment trials on naming accuracy trended toward significance at exit, although this relationship held for treated items only. Conclusions: These results suggest that the number of patient-generated features may be more strongly associated with SFA-related naming outcomes, particularly generalization and maintenance, than other practice-related variables. Supplemental Materials: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5734113.

Description of an intensive residential aphasia treatment program: rationale, clinical processes, and outcomes.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale, clinical processes, and outcomes of an intensive comprehensive aphasia program (ICAP). METHOD: Seventy-three community-dwelling adults with aphasia completed a residentially based ICAP. Participants received 5 hr of daily 1:1 evidence-based cognitive-linguistically oriented aphasia therapy, supplemented with weekly socially oriented and therapeutic group activities over a 23-day treatment course. Standardized measures of aphasia severity and communicative functioning were obtained at baseline, program entry, program exit, and follow-up. Results were analyzed using a Bayesian latent growth curve model with 2 factors representing (a) the initial level and (b) change over time, respectively, for each outcome measure. RESULTS: Model parameter estimates showed reliable improvement on all outcome measures between the initial and final assessments. Improvement during the treatment interval was greater than change observed across the baseline interval, and gains were maintained at follow-up on all measures. CONCLUSIONS: The rationale, clinical processes, and outcomes of a residentially based ICAP have been described. ICAPs differ with respect to treatments delivered, dosing parameters, and outcomes measured. Specifying the defining components of complex interventions, establishing their feasibility, and describing their outcomes are necessary to guide the development of controlled clinical trials.