Aphasia assessment: Translation of a research test battery to a practical clinical tool

Research Objectives: To translate a research-based test of aphasia to a clinical version that maintains the theoretical and psychometric aspects of the research version and addresses the practical constraints of a busy health care setting.

Design: Based on the principles of implementation science we used a survey to elicit clinician input throughout the creation of a clinical version of the Temple Assessment of Language and Short-term Memory in Aphasia (TALSA). The survey was active for 15 months and was one component of a larger researcher-clinician partnership that included focus groups, case discussions, and training sessions.

Setting: Five clinical settings including one rehabilitation hospital, two acute care hospitals and two university clinics.

Participants: Clinical speech language pathologists

Interventions: Not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Survey responses including Likert scale question data and short answers to the prompt, “Tell us about your experience with the TALSA.”

Results: Survey results – 122 responses
Likert scale questions: High level of satisfaction with test instructions (M = 6.56 on a 7-point Likert scale) and test administration (M = 6.54). Lower satisfaction reported for the usefulness of the TALSA in understanding individual patients’ aphasia (M = 5.85) and the perceived value of the TALSA in setting therapy goals (M = 5.67).
Open ended prompt – percentage of responses by topic: 34% quality of audio stimuli; 21% value of the TALSA; 13% quality of visual stimuli; 12% instructions; 5% interpretation

Conclusions: Clinicians report that administration of the TALSA is quick and easy.
High quality of audio stimuli and visual stimuli are important to clinicians. Higher audio and visual standards will be used in the creation of the second iteration of the Clinical TALSA.
Guidance on interpretation of results needs further development. In partnership with clinicians, a treatment guide was created. This issue will be further addressed in a future implementation study.

Author(s) Disclosures: No conflicts of interest.