The impact of the Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment on the pragmatic and informative skills of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Abstract

Abstract Objective Pragmatic impairment and narrative difficulties commonly affect individuals after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Rehabilitative programs may improve such impaired capacities and promote social recovery. Cognitive Pragmatic treatment (CPT) is a rehabilitative group program that encompasses different communicative skills, including sessions dedicated to the ability to structure a discourse with an adequate amount of information and relevant contents. This study aims to determine the efficacy of the CPT program in improving informative skills during narrative production. We also investigated the impact of CPT on some of the patients cognitive abilities that might affect their communicative skills (e.g., inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility). Methods Ten individuals with chronic TBI took part in and completed the CPT program. The participants narrative abilities were assessed before and after the CPT program, using a picture description task. Moreover, equivalent forms of the Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo), and a series of neuropsychological tasks, were administered to the participants to evaluate their pragmatic skills and cognitive profile. Results The CPT program induced a significant improvement in pragmatic and informative skills, while no significant improvement was observed in neuropsychological tasks. Importantly, the improvement in pragmatic abilities persisted three months post-training. Conclusions The study highlighted the efficacy of the CPT program in improving patients informativeness, confirming previous reports of its effectiveness in the rehabilitation of communicative-pragmatic skills.