Instrumentos de avaliação breve da comunicação: ferramentas existentes e sua aplicabilidade clínica

Analysis of brain activation and wave frequencies during a sentence completion task: a paradigm used with EEG in aphasic participants

Aphasia is a language disorder that occurs after brain injury and directly affects an individual's communication. The incidence of stroke increases with age, and one-third of people who have had a stroke develop aphasia. The severity of aphasia changes over time and some aspects of language may improve, while others remain compromised. Battery task training strategies are used in the rehabilitation of aphasics. The idea of this research is to use electroencephalography (EEG) as a non-invasive method, of electrophysiological monitoring, with a group of aphasic patients in rehabilitation process in a prevention and rehabilitation unit of the person with disabilities of the Unified Health System (SUS), of reference in the state of Bahia-Brazil. In this study, the goal is to analyze brain activation and wave frequencies of aphasic individuals during a sentence completion task, to possibly assist health professionals with the analysis of the aphasic subject's rehabilitation and task redefinition. We adopted the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm, proposed by the American Society for Functional Neuroradiology as a reference paradigm. We applied the paradigm in the group of aphasics with preserved comprehension, right hemiparesis, and left hemisphere injured or affected by stroke. We analyzed four electrodes (F3/F4 and F7/F8) corresponding to the left/right frontal cortex. Preliminary results of this study indicate a more robust activation in the right hemisphere (average of aphasics), with a difference of approximately 14% higher in Theta and Alpha frequencies, with 8% higher in low Beta (BetaL) and with approximately 1% higher in high Beta frequency (BetaH), Gamma frequency was higher by approximately 3% in the left hemisphere of the brain. The difference in electrical activation may be revealing to us a migration of language to the non-language dominant hemisphere. We point to possible evidence suggesting that EEG may be a promising tool for monitoring the rehabilitation of the aphasic subject.

Avaliação da linguagem após acidente vascular cerebral em adultos no estado de Sergipe

Objetivo analisar a ocorrência de distúrbios de linguagem nos indivíduos que sofreram Acidente Vascular Cerebral. Métodos foi avaliada a linguagem de todos os pacientes acometidos por Acidente Vascular Cerebral, atendidos de fevereiro a agosto de 2012, no setor de fisioterapia de centro de referência em educação e saúde do Estado de Sergipe. A avaliação foi baseada no Teste do Rio de Janeiro (2005). A análise dos dados foi realizada por meio de estatística descritiva e probabilística através da distribuição de frequência, cálculos da média, desvio padrão e percentis, do Teste U de Mann-Whitney e Qui-Quadrado. Resultado foram encontrados 31 indivíduos, de ambos os gêneros, com idade variando de 30 a 94 anos. Foi evidenciado que as variáveis: gênero, escolaridade e idade, influenciam no desempenho do teste, verificando-se que o gênero masculino, sujeitos abaixo de 65 anos e os com escolaridade acima de fundamental incompleto pontuam mais. Conclusão maior percentual da amostra apresenta mais alteração na compreensão do que na expressão.

Validação e adaptação cultural para o português da Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale

Objetivo: Validar e adaptar culturalmente a Interpersonal Communication Competence Scale para o português, trazendo uma nova ferramenta que possa ser utilizada pelos profissionais da área da saúde. Métodos: Estudo de validação descritivo e transversal com abordagem quanti-qualitativa. Foi realizada análise fatorial, análise de componentes principais com flag de 40 e avaliação da correlação interna por meio do Alpha de Cronbach. Resultados: A versão final da escala foi nomeada Escala de Competência em Comunicação Interpessoal e compôs-se por 17 itens e 5 domínios. O Alpha de Cronbach entre os cinco domínios foi de 0,71 e entre os itens foi de 0,82. Conclusão: A escala foi validada e adaptada em relação ao conteúdo e ao constructo com um bom índice de correlação entre os domínios e os itens.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Western Aphasia Battery - Revised screening test to Brazilian Portuguese: a preliminary study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Western Aphasia Battery - Revised (WAB-R) screening test, thus contributing to future applications of the instrument with Brazilian adults. Methods: The adaptation was based on a universalist perspective. The steps for conceptual, item, semantic and operational equivalence were strictly followed, resulting in a short version used in the pretest. The study participants were 30 individuals, between 18 to 89 years old; all were Brazilian speakers, with Portuguese as their first language. However, only 28 volunteers met the criteria for inclusion in the study. Two participants were excluded because they had low scores on the mini-mental state examination and were referred to geriatric assessment. Results: The short version of the WAB-R screening test, used in the pretest, allowed us to observe the behavior and language of the individuals during interactions, to collect impressions of overall communication, and to quantify communication ability by calculating the aphasia quotient and the language quotient, according to parameters of the original instrument. Conclusion: When adapting an instrument, it is important to maintain its original characteristics. However, the properties of measurement may not be in accordance with the psychometric properties of Brazilian culture. Therefore, we propose further analyses of the reliability and validation of the instrument in question in Brazil, which will occur by means of measurement and functional equivalence.

Analysis of figure recognition on the modified MT Beta-86 test for adaptation: description and discussion of methodological aspects

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to analyze the recognition of figures from the modified MT Beta-86 test for subsequent refinement and adaptation of this language assessment instrument.

METHODS

This study was organized into two parts. The first part of the study involved 61 subjects with educational level higher than nine years. Naming of 266 visual stimuli was elicited and concordance among participants on figure naming was also determined. Concordance of responses was assessed using Cochrane's test at a 5% level of significance. Some visual stimuli were subsequently re-designed and images were replaced. The second part of this study involved the re-testing of the new images among 110 individuals ranging in age from 18 to 75 years of both genders, stratified into four educational bands (A: 1-4 years; B: 5-8 years; C: 9-11 years; and D: more than 12 years). Stimuli with concordance level of 70% or higher were considered adequate.

RESULTS

In part A of the study, from the index of agreement of naming, the figures considered suitable for inclusion in the adapted version were selected. In part B, all the figures had a response concordance level over 70%.

CONCLUSION

Figures in the Modified MT Beta-86 test suitable for retention in the new version of the instrument were identified. Analysis of low sample recognition was used to identify boards for replacement, and those for retention, in the new version of the test.

Instrumentos para avaliação da linguagem pós-lesão cerebrovascular esquerda

O tema deste estudo é a avaliação padronizada da linguagem em pacientes com lesão cerebrovascular esquerda (LHE) que pode ser muito útil no estabelecimento do diagnóstico, prognóstico e plano terapêutico, complementando observação, entrevistas e tarefas clínicas. Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar quais instrumentos de investigação de linguagem têm sido utilizados para avaliação de quadros neurológicos súbitos envolvendo o hemisfério esquerdo (HE) e analisar quais componentes linguísticos são os mais avaliados. Foi possível identificar nove instrumentos utilizados internacionalmente que avaliam diferentes componentes linguísticos em pacientes com LHE; no contexto nacional, porém, foram encontradas apenas duas baterias para avaliação dessa população, ficando evidente a necessidade da construção e/ou de adaptação de instrumentos para a população brasileira. Os componentes linguísticos mais investigados foram nomeação e compreensão oral, respectivamente. A avaliação da linguagem torna-se essencial nos quadros envolvendo o HE, pois déficits linguísticos podem acarretar prejuízos sociais, ocupacionais e familiares.