Everyday communication in adolescents after acquired brain injuries

A comparative study of self-ratings and parent evaluations using the CETI

Authors

  • Åsa Fyrberg Sahlgrenska University Hospital and University of Gothenburg
  • Karin Strid University of Gothenburg
  • Elisabeth Ahlsén University of Gothenburg
  • Gunilla Thunberg Sahlgrenska University Hospital

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.30904

Keywords:

communicative participation, acquired brain injuries, adolescents, self-other evaluations, activity based communication analyses, distributed cognition

Abstract

Communication participation in adolescents with acquired brain injuries (ABI) has received limited attention. The aim of the present study was to investigate the views of the adolescents themselves (N = 8), in comparison to parent evaluations (N = 11) of daily communication, using the Communicative Effectiveness Index in combination with individual interviews. Two frameworks for analyses, Activity based Communication Analyses and the distributed cognition approach, identified three main areas of interest: Situations where communication difficulties occur, Coping behaviours used by participants to manage communication difficulties, and, Causes of the communication difficulties. An overall high agreement between the adolescent and parent assessments was shown. However, complex communicative situations more frequently received lower scores in the parent ratings. The results of the study point to the usability of a systematic comparison of the shared points of views on communication after ABI in adolescence, to increase knowledge about the participation perspective in real life communication.

Author Biographies

  • Åsa Fyrberg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and University of Gothenburg

    Åsa Fyrberg graduated as a speech language pathologist (SLP) in 1996 at Gothenburg University, Sweden. Clinically, she he has been employed at a Regional rehabilitation centre at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, since 1998. In her current position, she works in a specialized multi-professional rehabilitation team to provide assessment and rehabilitation services to schoolaged children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI). Åsa Fyrberg is also a PhD candidate in cognitive science at the University of Gothenburg and this paper is a part of her thesis. The research topics explored in the thesis mainly concerns models for understanding communication outcome and participation in the daily interactions of children and adolescents with moderate to severe ABI. Recent publication: Fyrberg, Å. (2013) Communication after traumatic brain injury in adolescence: A single subject comparative study of two methods for analysis. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 4 (2), 157–183.

  • Karin Strid, University of Gothenburg

    Karin Strid is working as a lecturer in developmental psychology at the University of Gothenburg. One of her research interests is social communication and social cognition in children with autism and children with profound hearing loss. Recent publication: Meristo, M., Strid K., Hjelmquist, E. (2016). Early conversational environment enables spontaneous belief attribution in deaf children. Cognition, 157, 139–145. Another area of interest is how preverbal infants understand the concept of fairness and how they make judgements about fair and unfair actions. Recent publication: Meristo, M., Strid, K., and Surian, L. (2016). Preverbal infants’ ability to encode the outcome of distributive actions. Infancy, 21, 353–372.

  • Elisabeth Ahlsén, University of Gothenburg

    Professor

  • Gunilla Thunberg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital

    Gunilla Thunberg: Speech Language Pathologist 1984 at Lund University, Sweden. Master degree, 1998. PhD in linguistics, 2007, at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, on a thesis about speech-generating devices used in the homes of children with autism spectrum disorders. Teacher and supervisor at the Speech Language Pathology education and Special Educator Education at University of Gothenburg. Guest teacher in AAC, autism and early communication intervention at other Swedish universities and institutions. Mother to a young man with autism and intellectual disability. On the permanent staff of DART – centre for AAC and assistive technology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital – since 1988. Qualified in most areas within in the AAC-field, but more specific research interests involves AAC and autism, early communication intervention, education/guidance to communication partners to children, as well as older people with communicative disabilities of different types, aided language modelling (ALM) and creation of communicative environments. Methodologically most experienced and interested in mixed designs. Leader and initiator of the following research- and development projects: • AKKtiv – early intervention and AAC – parental education • Komm-A – communication books for individuals with aphasia and their partners • Kom-HIT – communication support within hospital care settings. • KOMPIS – creating a communicative environment in schools using ALM

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Published

2017-02-01

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Fyrberg, Åsa, Strid, K., Ahlsén, E., & Thunberg, G. (2017). Everyday communication in adolescents after acquired brain injuries: A comparative study of self-ratings and parent evaluations using the CETI. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 8(1), 44-71. https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.30904