The Benefits of Conversation Group Treatment for Individuals With Chronic Aphasia: Updated Evidence From a Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial on Measures of Language and Communication.

Each treatment arm had a modest number of participants, and some measures were added only in the second recruitment cycle, so they were analysed in fewer people still. Participants and treating clinicians could not be blinded, and assessors could not be kept unaware of the group for everyone. The authors say this may have biased results in favour of the treatment groups. The main outcome was null in the trial-wide analysis, and the positive result came from a secondary comparison of the large group against controls; that result was gone at follow-up. People with missing data were left out of the analysis rather than having values filled in, which the authors chose because of the modest sample size. Participants had a wide mix of aphasia types and severities, and the authors say it is unknown how that mix affected outcomes. Most participants had already taken part in aphasia groups, so the study may miss benefits a first-time group member would feel. The comparison between large groups and dyads was described but not tested statistically, so any claim that one format is better than the other is not supported by a formal test. The control group was a delayed-treatment group, and nine people withdrew after randomisation: three because they did not like the treatment, one for unrelated illness, one for scheduling, four for unknown reasons.

The work was funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (grants R21DC015859 and R01DC018781), awarded to Elizabeth Hoover and Gayle DeDe. Those grants are the only funding or conflict the paper's declaration states.

Do not read this as proof that conversation group treatment improves how people feel they communicate. The trial-wide analysis of that measure was null. Only a secondary comparison of the large group against controls reached significance, and that gain had disappeared by the 6-week follow-up.