Abstract
To study the relationship between the caregiver's perception about the patient's impairment in spontaneous speech, according to an item of four questions administered by semi-structured interview, and the patient's performance in the Brief Aphasia Evaluation (BAE). 102 right-handed patients with focal brain lesions of different types and location were examined. BAE is a valid and reliable instrument to assess aphasia. The caregiver's perception was correlated with the item of spontaneous speech, the total score and the three main factors of the BAE: Expression, Comprehension and Complementary factors. The precision (sensitivity/ specificity) about the caregiver's perception of the patient's spontaneous speech was analyzed with reference to the presence or absence of disorder, according to the professional, on the BAE item of spontaneous speech. The studied correlation was satisfactory, being greater (higher than 80%) for the following indicators: the item of spontaneous speech, the Expression factor and the total score of the scale; the correlation was a little smaller (higher than 70%) for the Comprehension and Complementary factors. Comparing two cut-off points that evaluated the precision of the caregiver's perception, satisfactory results were observed in terms of sensitivity and specificity (>70%) with likelihood ratios higher than three. By using the median as the cut-off point, more satisfactory diagnostic discriminations were obtained. Interviewing the caregiver specifically on the patient's spontaneous speech, in an abbreviated form, provides relevant information for the aphasia diagnosis.
Highlights
Regarding aphasia, a lack of reliability can be observed between what the patients report about their disorders and what their relatives report[1]
Considering the Comprehension and Complementary factors of the Brief Aphasia Evaluation (BAE), the correlation was higher than 0.70. (The correlation resulted negative because BAE measures the level of performance, whereas the caregiver’s perception measures the level of disorder)
This study showed that the correlation of the expressive factor with the perception of the caregiver in spontaneous speech was similar to that observed for the total BAE score
Summary
A lack of reliability can be observed between what the patients report about their disorders and what their relatives report[1]. The difficulty of patients with aphasia to transmit reliable information regarding their symptoms makes caregiver observations essential for detecting, diagnosing and evaluating the loss or recovery of function in these patients (see, e.g.,(2)). Because of this reliance on the ratings of relatives or close friends to assess the status of the patient with aphasia, there is a great need to validate such rating measures[3]. There are few studies aiming to validate these qualifications, those aimed to detect which are the most relevant An exception to this lack of background is a previous study which indicates that family members or partners typically rate the effectiveness of the aphasia patients’ communication skills, largely based on expressive language[3]. This measure is included within a larger set of measures or items[1]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
