Browsing by Author "Munasinghe, T.U."

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Availability of rehabilitation services for communication disorders in Sri Lanka: a cross-sectional survey
(BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2023) Caldera, A.V.; Wickremasinghe, R.; Munasinghe, T.U.; Perera, K.M.N.; Muttiah, N.; Tilakarathne, D.; Peiris, M.K.R.R.; Thamilchelvan, E.; Sooriyaarachchi, C.; Nasma, M.N.; Manamperige, R.M.; Ariyasena, A.D.K.; Sumanasena, S.P.
OBJECTIVES: To describe the rehabilitation services available for communication disorders in Sri Lanka and to estimate the adequacy of the services in provinces and districts of the country. SETTING: The study considered government and private institutions, which provide rehabilitation services for communication disorders in Sri Lanka. PARTICIPANTS: Institutions providing services of speech-language pathologists, audiologists and audiology technicians in Sri Lanka. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: We investigated the number of government hospitals and private institutions, which provide speech-language pathology and audiology services in Sri Lanka as the primary outcome measure. A number of speech-language pathologists, audiologists and audiology technicians working in the institutions were obtained from records and institution-based inquiries to identify the adequacy of the services in the country as the secondary outcome measure. RESULTS: Of the 647 government hospitals that provide free healthcare services in the country, 45 and 33 hospitals had speech and language therapy and audiology units, respectively. Government hospitals do not have audiologists but only have audiology technicians. The number of speech and language therapists and audiology technicians in the government sector per 100 000 population in the country was 0.44 and 0.18, respectively. There were wide variations in specialist to population ratio between districts. 77 private centres provide speech therapy services in 15 out of the 25 districts; 36 private centres provide audiological evaluations in 9 districts. CONCLUSIONS: The number of specialist speech and language therapists and audiologists is not sufficient to provide adequate rehabilitation services for communications disorder for the Sri Lankan population. Not recruiting audiologists to the government sector affects the management of hearing impairment in the affected.
Measurement properties of instruments assessing Aphasia impact on social participation: A COSMIN systematic review
(University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2023) de Za, T.A.P.; Munasinghe, T.U.; Siriwardhana, D.D.
BACKGROUND: Aphasia is a language disorder that significantly limits a person's social participation. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) of social participation play an important role in clinical practice to identify activity limitations and participation restrictions. Even though PROMs of the impact of aphasia on social participation are used to measure this aspect, their suitability is unclear. It is crucial that these PROMs demonstrate adequate measurement properties, such as validity, reliability and responsiveness for the intended population. Additionally, people with aphasia are excluded from research due to communication deficits. However, their involvement during assessment tool development is crucial to construct high-quality assessments. OBJECTIVE/S: The objective of this study is to critically appraise and summarize the measurement properties of instruments assessing the impact of aphasia on social participation using COSMIN criteria, to map the domains of instruments that assess the impact of aphasia on social participation against the social participation domains framework introduced by the ICF and to compare the measurement properties of the included instruments that are created with and without direct patient involvement. METHODS: The study protocol was developed with adherence to the statement of PRISMA-P, and the study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD-384044). A comprehensive electronic search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, AMED, and Web of Science Core Collection databases, and a secondary search was performed in Web of Science and Google Scholar. Studies on the development and testing measurement properties of instruments assessing the impact of aphasia on social participation were included in this review. The quality of evidence regarding measurement properties of the selected tools, including risk of bias, was evaluated against COSMIN criteria. RESULTS: Four articles featuring three instruments (Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ), Social Activities Checklist (SOCACT), and Stroke Social Network Scale (SSNS)) assessing the impact of aphasia on social participation were identified. The quality of evidence for ‘CIQ’ development, reliability, and construct validity were ‘satisfactory’. The quality of evidence for ‘SSNS’ PROM development was ‘low- very serious risk of bias’. However, ‘satisfactory’ evidence was reported for construct validity. CIQ and SOCACT instruments showed good face validity. Compared to other instruments, SSNS reported satisfactory involvement of persons with aphasia during instrument development. The quality of evidence for internal consistency was only evaluated for two instruments due to a lack of evidence. There was no evidence for content validity, measurement error, measurement invariance, criterion validity and responsiveness. CONCLUSION/S: Instruments that exclusively measure the impact of aphasia on social participation have limited evidence of measurement properties. Further work is required to update and investigate the missing 13 measurement properties of these instruments. Based on the available evidence, the Community Integration Questionnaire can be recommended to measure the impact of aphasia on social participation.
Speech therapy interventions for acquired apraxia of speech: An updated systematic review
(American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2023) Munasinghe, T.U.; Ariyasena, W.A.A.D.K.; Siriwardhana, D.D.
PURPOSE: This systematic review aims to summarize and evaluate the available literature on speech and language therapy interventions for acquired apraxia of speech since 2012. METHOD: A systematic search in six electronic databases was performed from 2013 to 2020. The following primary outcomes were summarized: (a) improvement in targeted behaviors, (b) generalization, and (c) maintenance of outcomes. Moreover, studies were evaluated for the level of evidence and the clinical phase. RESULTS: Of the 3,070 records identified, 27 studies were included in this review. The majority of the studies (n = 22) used articulatory kinematic approaches followed by intersystemic facilitation/reorganization treatments (n = 4) and other approaches (n = 1). According to the classes defined in Clinical Practice Guideline Process Manual (Gronseth et al., 2017), one was Class II, 10 were Class III, 10 were Class III-b (fulfill Class III criteria except for independence of assessors' criterion), and five were Class IV. In terms of clinical phase, one study classified as Phase III, 10 as Phase II, and 15 as Phase I. CONCLUSIONS: Among the interventions for apraxia of speech, articulatory kinematic treatments have become prominent over the last 8 years. Focusing on self-administrated therapies, use of technology for therapy administration and development of treatments that focus on apraxia of speech and aphasia simultaneously were identified as new advancements in the apraxia of speech literature. The methodological quality, clinical phase, and level of evidence of the studies have improved within the past 8 years. Large-scale randomized controlled trials for articulatory kinematic approaches and future studies on other treatment approaches are warranted.