COMMUNICATIVE PROCESSING IN ADULTS WITH UNILATERAL RIGHT HEMISPHERE STROKE: ASSESSMENT BY MEANS OF A SHORT BATTERY

• Main Authors: Camila Rosa de Oliveira, Karina Carlesso Pagliarin, Luara de Freitas Calvette, Alan Saloum Bastos, Rochele Paz Fonseca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Católica de Colombia
• Series: Acta Colombiana de Psicología
• Subjects: ACV; Comunicación; Hemisferio derecho
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0123-91552016000200004&lng=en&tlng=en

Patients with right hemisphere brain damage (RBD) usually experience communication impairments. This study aims to investigate the communication processing in patients who suffered a stroke in the right hemisphere. The sample comprised 100 participants: 25 with RBD, 25 with left hemisphere brain damage (LBD) and 50 neurologically healthy controls (NHC). Participants answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Mini Mental State Examination to measure general cognitive ability, the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Scale to investigate depressive symptoms, the Bells Test to evaluate hemineglect and the Modified Ranking Scale to verify functional capacity. The communication processing was assessed with the use of the Montreal Communication Evaluation Battery, brief version - Brief MAC Battery. The scores were compared using a One-Way ANOVA and the Chi-squared test. There were significant differences between RBD and NHC groups in 89% of the tasks, but not between RBD and LBD groups. Furthermore, the RBD showed inferior communication skills compared to the NHC group. These findings indicate an interhemispheric cooperation for communication processing.