A Virtual, Randomized, Control Trial of a Digital Therapeutic for Speech, Language, and Cognitive Intervention in Post-stroke Persons With Aphasia

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dc.contributor.authorBraley, Michelleen
dc.contributor.authorPierce, Jordyn Simsen
dc.contributor.authorSaxena, Sadhvien
dc.contributor.authorDe Oliveira, Emilyen
dc.contributor.authorTaraboanta, Lauraen
dc.contributor.authorAnantha, Veeraen
dc.contributor.authorLakhan, Shaheen E.en
dc.contributor.authorKiran, Swathien
dc.contributor.departmentVirginia Tech Carilion School of Medicineen
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-18T12:24:39Zen
dc.date.available2021-05-18T12:24:39Zen
dc.date.issued2021-02-12en
dc.description.abstractBackground: Post-stroke aphasia is a chronic condition that impacts people's daily functioning and communication for many years after a stroke. Even though these individuals require sustained rehabilitation, they face extra burdens to access care due to shortages in qualified clinicians, insurance limitations and geographic access. There is a need to research alternative means to access intervention remotely, such as in the case of this study using a digital therapeutic. Objective: To assess the feasibility and clinical efficacy of a virtual speech, language, and cognitive digital therapeutic for individuals with post-stroke aphasia relative to standard of care. Methods: Thirty two participants completed the study (experimental: average age 59.8 years, 7 female, 10 male, average education: 15.8 years, time post-stroke: 53 months, 15 right handed, 2 left handed; control: average age 64.2 years, 7 female, 8 male, average education: 15.3 years, time post-stroke: 36.1 months, 14 right handed, 1 left handed). Patients in the experimental group received 10 weeks of treatment using a digital therapeutic, Constant Therapy-Research (CT-R), for speech, language, and cognitive therapy, which provides evidence-based, targeted therapy with immediate feedback for users that adjusts therapy difficulty based on their performance. Patients in the control group completed standard of care (SOC) speech-language pathology workbook pages. Results: This study provides Class II evidence that with the starting baseline WAB-AQ score, adjusted by -0.69 for every year of age, and by 0.122 for every month since stroke, participants in the CT-R group had WAB-AQ scores 6.43 higher than the workbook group at the end of treatment. Additionally, secondary outcome measures included the WAB-Language Quotient, WAB-Cognitive Quotient, Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT), and Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale 39 (SAQOL-39), with significant changes in BTACT verbal fluency subtest and the SAQOL-39 communication and energy scores for both groups. Conclusions: Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of a fully virtual trial for patients with post-stroke aphasia, especially given the ongoing COVID19 pandemic, as well as a safe, tolerable, and efficacious digital therapeutic for language/cognitive rehabilitation.en
dc.description.notesThis study was funded by The Learning Corp, Newton, MA. The Learning Corp is now called Constant Therapy Health.en
dc.description.sponsorshipLearning Corp, Newton, MAen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.626780en
dc.identifier.issn1664-2295en
dc.identifier.other626780en
dc.identifier.pmid33643204en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/103353en
dc.identifier.volume12en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjecttele-neurorehabilitationen
dc.subjectpost-stroke aphasiaen
dc.subjectvirtual treatmenten
dc.subjectlanguage outcomesen
dc.subjectremote assessmenten
dc.titleA Virtual, Randomized, Control Trial of a Digital Therapeutic for Speech, Language, and Cognitive Intervention in Post-stroke Persons With Aphasiaen
dc.title.serialFrontiers in Neurologyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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