Creating "a Safe Place to Go": Yarning With Health Workers About Stroke Recovery Care for Aboriginal Stroke Survivors-A Qualitative Study.

Stroke affects Aboriginal people at disproportionate rates compared to other populations in Australia. Aboriginal peoples are less likely to receive a timely stroke diagnosis, or timely culturally responsive treatment, as there are very few stroke resources and recovery plans that have been developed by Aboriginal peoples for Aboriginal peoples. Understanding how to develop and implement culturally responsive stroke care requires research approaches that are informed by and with Aboriginal people.

Utilisation of simulation-based learning to decrease student anxiety and increase readiness for clinical placements for speech-language pathology students.

Purpose: To investigate the use of two versions of a simulation-based learning experience (SBLE) to decrease speech-language pathology (SLP) students' anxiety and increase their confidence and sense of preparedness for clinical placements.

Method: Two cohorts of third-year SLP students ( = 33) participated in a mixed-methods study with each cohort completing one version of the SBLE. Participants completed pre- and post-program quantitative ratings of anxiety, confidence, and preparedness for clinical placements and participated in focus groups.

Intersectionality and Its Relevance in the Context of Aboriginal People with Brain Injury in Australia.

In this article, we explore the benefits of recognizing the impact of intersectionality on access to, and provision of, brain injury care in a First Nations context. While disadvantage and discrimination are often associated with the intersection of culture, gender, disability, and socioeconomic disadvantage, it is only when these factors are explored together that clinicians can really understand what people need to recover and thrive following acquired brain injury. In this article, we challenge speech-language pathologists to examine their own practices, to look beyond Western models of health and constraints of many current institutional models of care and ways of framing research, to acknowledge historical and ongoing colonizing influences, and to engage with community-led solutions.

Communication services for First Nations peoples after stroke and traumatic brain injury: Alignment of Sustainable Development Goals 3, 16 and 17.

Purpose: Colonisation and continuing discrimination have significantly and negatively impacted the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations peoples globally. In Australia, Aboriginal cultures thrive despite ongoing barriers to health care. This paper describes challenges and new initiatives for Australian Aboriginal people with acquired communication disability after brain injury and their alignment with the global aims forming the Sustainable Development Goals.

Statistical analysis plan for the stepped wedge clinical trial Healing Right Way-enhancing rehabilitation services for Aboriginal Australians after brain injury.

Background: Aboriginal Australians are known to suffer high levels of acquired brain injury (stroke and traumatic brain injury) yet experience significant barriers in accessing rehabilitation services. The aim of the Healing Right Way trial is to evaluate a culturally secure intervention for Aboriginal people with newly acquired brain injury to improve their rehabilitation experience and quality of life. Following publication of the trial protocol, this paper outlines the statistical analysis plan prior to locking the database.

Treatment fidelity monitoring, reporting and findings in a complex aphasia intervention trial: a substudy of the Very Early Rehabilitation in SpEech (VERSE) trial.

Background: Treatment fidelity is inconsistently reported in aphasia research, contributing to uncertainty about the effectiveness of types of aphasia therapy following stroke. We outline the processes and outcomes of treatment fidelity monitoring in a pre-specified secondary analysis of the VERSE trial.

Methods: VERSE was a 3-arm, single-blinded RCT with a 12-week primary endpoint comparing Usual Care (UC) to two higher intensity treatments: Usual Care-Plus (UC-Plus) and VERSE, a prescribed intervention.

Patients' experiences of a Communication Enhanced Environment model on an acute/slow stream rehabilitation and a rehabilitation ward following stroke: a qualitative description approach.

Background: Patients in hospital following stroke express a desire to continue therapy tasks outside of treatment activities. However, they commonly describe experiences of boredom and inactivity. An enriched environment aims to provide opportunities for physical, cognitive and social activity and informed the development of a Communication Enhanced Environment (CEE) model to promote patient engagement in language activities.

Investigation of the implementation of a Communication Enhanced Environment model on an acute/slow stream rehabilitation and a rehabilitation ward: A before-and-after pilot study.

Objectives: Develop and implement a Communication Enhanced Environment model and explore its effect on language activities for patients early after stroke.

Method And Design: Before-and-after pilot study.

Setting: An acute/slow stream rehabilitation and a rehabilitation ward in a private hospital in Perth, Western Australia.

Staff and volunteers' perceptions of a Communication Enhanced Environment model in an acute/slow stream rehabilitation and a rehabilitation hospital ward: a qualitative description study within a before-and-after pilot study.

Purpose: A lack of social interaction during early stroke recovery can negatively affect neurological recovery and health-related quality of life of patients with aphasia following stroke. A Communication Enhanced Environment (CEE) model was developed to increase patient engagement in language activities early after stroke. This study aimed to examine staff ( = 20) and volunteer ( = 2) perceptions of a CEE model and factors influencing the implementation and use of the model.

Healing Right Way: study protocol for a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial to enhance rehabilitation services and improve quality of life in Aboriginal Australians after brain injury.

Introduction: Despite higher incidence of brain injury among Aboriginal compared with non-Aboriginal Australians, suboptimal engagement exists between rehabilitation services and Aboriginal brain injury survivors. Aboriginal patients often feel culturally insecure in hospital and navigation of services post discharge is complex. Health professionals report feeling ill-equipped working with Aboriginal patients.

The development of aboriginal brain injury coordinator positions: a culturally secure rehabilitation service initiative as part of a clinical trial.

Brain injury, resulting from stroke and traumatic brain injury, is a common occurrence in Australia, with Aboriginal people affected at a significant rate and impact felt by individuals, families and communities. Access to brain injury rehabilitation services for Aboriginal people is reported to be often limited, with very little support outside the hospital environment. Our research involving Aboriginal brain injury survivors and their families to date has revealed that people often manage 'on their own' following such events.

Evaluation of the Allied Health Rural Generalist Program 2017-2019.

Objective: To evaluate the development and implementation of the Allied Health Rural Generalist Program, a two-level online post-graduate education program, which includes Level 1, an entry-level non-award pathway program, and Level 2, a Graduate Diploma in Rural Generalist Practice.

Design: A convergent mixed methodology evaluation in two overlapping stages: a process evaluation on quality and reach, together with a mixed method case study evaluation on benefits, of the program.

Setting: Rural and remote Australia across ten sites and seven allied health professions: dietetics; occupational therapy; pharmacy; physiotherapy; podiatry; radiography; speech pathology.

Hospital staff, volunteers' and patients' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to communication following stroke in an acute and a rehabilitation private hospital ward: a qualitative description study.

Objectives: To explore barriers and facilitators to patient communication in an acute and rehabilitation ward setting from the perspectives of hospital staff, volunteers and patients following stroke.

Design: A qualitative descriptive study as part of a larger study which aimed to develop and test a Communication Enhanced Environment model in an acute and a rehabilitation ward.

Setting: A metropolitan Australian private hospital.

A randomized control trial of intensive aphasia therapy after acute stroke: The Very Early Rehabilitation for SpEech (VERSE) study.

Background: Effectiveness of early intensive aphasia rehabilitation after stroke is unknown. The Very Early Rehabilitation for SpEech trial (VERSE) aimed to determine whether intensive aphasia therapy, beginning within 14 days after stroke, improved communication recovery compared to usual care.

Methods: Prospective, randomized, single-blinded trial conducted at 17 acute-care hospitals across Australia/New Zealand from 2014 to 2018.

Does Direct Helicopter Retrieval Improve Survival of Severely Injured Trauma Patients From Rural Western Australia?

Objective: In remote Western Australia, mortality from major trauma is more than 4 times higher than mortality rates from major trauma in the capital city of Perth. The objective of this study was to determine whether direct helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) retrieval from an incident scene within the zone 50 to 250 km of Perth to a tertiary hospital improves survival in severely injured trauma patients. Direct HEMS retrieval was compared with indirect retrieval whereby patients were transferred by ambulance to a nearby rural hospital before retrieval to a tertiary hospital in Perth.

An exploration of aphasia therapy dosage in the first six months of stroke recovery.

Aphasia research uses the length of time within rehabilitation sessions as the main measure of dosage. Few papers detail therapeutic ingredients or outline the number of times these were delivered over the treatment period. The present observational study identified therapeutic ingredients in the Very Early Rehabiltiation in SpEech (VERSE) trial and explored the dosage provided using a model of cumulative intervention intensity (CII).

"You felt like a prisoner in your own self, trapped": the experiences of Aboriginal people with acquired communication disorders.

Purpose: Aboriginal Australians are under-represented in brain injury rehabilitation services despite a high incidence of both stroke and traumatic brain injury in this population. This study aimed to explore the experiences of Aboriginal Australian adults with acquired communication disorders (ACDs) after brain injury for the first time to inform the development of accessible and culturally secure service delivery models.

Methods And Materials: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 32 Aboriginal people who had experienced a brain injury resulting in ACDs (aged 35-79 years) and 18 family members/carers across Western Australia.

General practitioners' perceptions of their communication with Australian Aboriginal patients with acquired neurogenic communication disorders.

Objective: Aboriginal people have high rates of stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI), often with residual, chronic communication deficits and multiple co-morbidities. This study examined general practitioners' (GPs') perceptions of their communication with Aboriginal patients with acquired communication disorders (ACD) after brain injury. Effective communication underpins good care but no previous research has explored this specific context.

The Wangi (talking) project: A feasibility study of a rehabilitation model for aboriginal people with acquired communication disorders after stroke.

Aboriginal Australians are under-represented in stroke rehabilitation services and rehabilitation practices that are sensitive to the needs of Aboriginal people are not currently available. This project tested the feasibility and acceptability of a rehabilitation model and approach to therapy with Aboriginal people with acquired communication disorders post-stroke. Eight Aboriginal people with acquired communication disorders post-stroke were recruited to this study.

Statistical analysis plan (SAP) for the Very Early Rehabilitation in Speech (VERSE) after stroke trial: an international 3-arm clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of early, intensive, prescribed, direct aphasia therapy.

Background Limited evidence exists to support very early intensive aphasia rehabilitation after stroke. VERSE is a PROBE trial designed to determine whether two types of intensive aphasia therapy, beginning within 14 days of acute stroke, provide greater therapeutic and cost-effectiveness than usual care. Objective To publish the detailed statistical analysis plan for the VERSE trial prior to unblinding.

Missing Voices: Profile, Extent, and 12-Month Outcomes of Nonfatal Traumatic Brain Injury in Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Adults in Western Australia Using Linked Administrative Records.

Objective: To investigate differences in the profile and outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Western Australians (WAs) hospitalized with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Setting: WA hospitals.

Participants: TBI cases aged 15 to 79 years surviving their first admission during 2002-2011.

Developmental changes in pharyngeal swallowing acoustics: a comparison of adults and children.

This study examined developmental differences in the acoustics of pharyngeal swallowing. Thirty-one young children (M = 4.5 years) and 29 adults (M = 22.

Development of the Aboriginal Communication Assessment After Brain Injury (ACAABI): A screening tool for identifying acquired communication disorders in Aboriginal Australians.

Purpose: Acquired communication disorders (ACD), following stroke and traumatic brain injury, may not be correctly identified in Aboriginal Australians due to a lack of linguistically and culturally appropriate assessment tools. Within this paper we explore key issues that were considered in the development of the Aboriginal Communication Assessment After Brain Injury (ACAABI) - a screening tool designed to assess the presence of ACD in Aboriginal populations.

Method: A literature review and consultation with key stakeholders were undertaken to explore directions needed to develop a new tool, based on existing tools and recommendations for future developments.

Acoustic Properties of Cries in 12-Month Old Infants at High-Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

There is preliminary evidence that infant siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have an atypical pattern of cry, characterized by higher fundamental frequency and increased dysphonation. This prospective study collected multiple cry samples of 12-month old siblings of children with ASD (n = 22, 'high-risk' group) and 12-month olds with no family history of ASD (n = 27, 'low risk' group). While there was no difference between groups in the fundamental frequency or degree of phonation of the cry samples, the duration of each cry unit was significantly shorter in the high-risk siblings (p < .

Choice making in Rett syndrome: a descriptive study using video data.

Purpose: To describe the choice-making abilities of girls and women with Rett syndrome.

Method: Females with Rett syndrome registered with the Australian Rett Syndrome Database with a pathogenic MECP2 mutation were included in this study. Video clips showing choice making in 64 females at a median age of 11.