Social communication following traumatic brain injury part 2: Identifying effective treatment ingredients

Abstract

Purpose: Social communication deficits are a severely debilitating aspect of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and there is strong clinical and research interest in how social communication interventions work for this population. Informed by a companion paper targeting assessment of social communication impairments post-TBI, this paper reviews relevant treatment theories and provides an inventory of social communication treatment components.

Method: We completed a mapping review examining 17 articles from recent literature reviews and 4 updated articles from a literature search to identify treatment targets and ingredients using the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System (RTSS).

Result: Social communication interventions are primarily based on behavioural and cognitive treatment theories. Common social communication treatment targets include changing skilled behaviours and cognitive or affective representations. We offer a menu of therapeutic ingredients and treatment considerations which represent the current state of social communication interventions.

Conclusion: By reviewing the social communication intervention literature through a theoretical lens, we identify which treatment targets are missing, which targets are being addressed, and which therapeutic ingredients (i.e. clinician activities) are recommended. A hypothetical case study is provided as a supplement to demonstrate how speech-language pathologists may integrate treatment theory, ingredients, and targets into clinical practice.

Keywords: Social communication; pragmatics; speech-language pathology; traumatic brain injury; treatment.