City Research Online

Abstract

Background: There is a need for clinical tools that capture the real-life impact of aphasia (Simmons-Mackie, Threats & Kagan, 2005). This study reports on a psychometric investigation of two self-report tools: the Communicative Activities Checklist and the Social Activities Checklist (COMACT; SOCACT: Cruice, 2001), which assess the dimensions of communication activity and social participation in aphasia.

Aims: (1) To investigate internal consistency, convergent and known validity of the COMACT and SOCACT; and (2) To investigate the impact of personal contextual factors: gender, age, years in education, linguistic ability and emotional health on communicative and social activities.

Method: 30 participants with mild-moderate chronic aphasia (PWA: mean age 71 years, mean time post-onset 41 months, mean years in education 10.77) and 75 control neurologically healthy participants (NHP: mean age 74 years, mean years in education 13.18) completed the COMACT and SOCACT reporting how frequently they engaged in particular activities. The COMACT has 45 communication activities with sub-scales of Talking, Listening, Reading and Writing. The SOCACT contains 20 social activities with sub-scales of Leisure, Informal and Formal. Internal consistency (IC) was examined using Cronbach’s alpha (α). Correlations with published assessments, Western Aphasia Battery (WAB: Kertesz, 1982) and Communication Activities of Daily Living (CADL-2: Holland, Frattali & Fromm, 1999) were computed for COMACT only. Multiple regression models were examined for differences in participant (PWA vs. NHP) performance on COMACT and SOCACT. COMACT & SOCACT: psychometric investigation

Results: Total COMACT IC was 0.83 (PWA), and 0.84 (NHP). Following deletion of four items, to further improve sub-scale ICs, total COMACT IC was 0.83 (PWA) and 0.86 (NHP). COMACT total score and WAB AQ were moderately correlated (r = 0.55). Total SOCACT IC was 0.58 (PWA) and 0.63 (NHP). Following single item deletion, total IC was 0.65 (PWA) and 0.64 (NHP). Statistical analysis revealed PWA, in comparison to NHP, participated in significantly fewer communication and social activities. Personal contextual factors impacted both groups differently; particular aspects were associated with communication activity (age and language severity) and social activity (age only). For NHP, ageing, emotional health and years in education were significant predictors of social and communication activity.

Conclusion: This study finds the COMACT to be a reliable, valid measure of communication activity. The SOCACT had ‘questionable’ IC and requires further psychometric investigation. Both tools demonstrate known group validity. Relationships between impairment-level and personal contextual factors for communication activity and social participation are highlighted.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article to be published by Taylor & Francis in Aphasiology and to be available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/paph20/current.
Publisher Keywords:	Aphasia; communication activity; social participation; psychometric
Subjects:	P Language and Literature
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Language & Communication Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

Export

Downloads