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

Abstract

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.

Result: The literature searches revealed no existing screening tool for ACD in these populations, but identified tools in the areas of cognition and social-emotional wellbeing. Articles retrieved described details of the content and style of these tools, with recommendations for the development and administration of a new tool. The findings from the interview and focus group views were consistent with the approach recommended in the literature.

Conclusions: There is a need for a screening tool for ACD to be developed but any tool must be informed by knowledge of Aboriginal language, culture and community input in order to be acceptable and valid.

Keywords:

• acquired communication disorder
• aboriginal Australians
• screening tool

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the University of Western Australia Seeding Grant and the National Health and Medical Research Council Grant #1046228. We also wish to acknowledge the participants in this study, and research assistants Susan Matson, Belinda Goodale, and John Woods for their diligence in assisting with the data collection.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2017.1290136

Appendix 1. Interview questions used for focus groups