Counseling and Care Partner Training in Primary Progressive Aphasia.
Kristin M Schaffer, Maya L Henry
PMID 35935167WHAT IT FOUND
Speech-language pathologists can integrate counseling and care partner training into PPA treatment.
Reviews of small studies show these approaches improve communication confidence, knowledge of the disease, and coping skills for patients and families, though evidence remains limited.
Key findings
01Multifaceted interventions including counseling and care partner training are feasible and associated with reported gains in communication and psychosocial outcomes.
02Group programs combining informational counseling with communication strategy training led to significant improvements in quality of communication and coping abilities compared to no treatment.
03Care partners can be trained to deliver lexical retrieval treatment, with naming improvements comparable to those achieved by clinicians.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The evidence base is small, with only 15 papers included in the review. Four of the nine intervention studies had sample sizes of 10 participants or fewer. Four of the nine intervention studies did not conduct follow-up testing. Not all interventions were solely administered by speech-language pathologists; some involved interdisciplinary teams. The review is narrative, not systematic, so it may not capture all relevant literature.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive findings as evidence of efficacy from large-scale trials. The studies reviewed are small, often pilots or case series with limited follow-up, and many involve multifaceted interventions where the specific contribution of counseling versus other therapy components cannot be isolated.