The effects of symbolic gestural training on enhancing recovery of spoken naming in people with aphasia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of symbolic gestural training on enhancing recovery of spoken naming in people with aphasia (PWA) using a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Method

Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, article search was conducted from four databases: Web of Science Core Collection, Medline, PsycINFO, and EBSCO. A total of 45 participants from four studies investigating the symbolic gestural training effects on PWA and outcome measures of spoken naming were included.

Result

The meta-analysis showed a medium overall effect of symbolic gestural training on enhancing recovery of spoken naming in PWA. Subgroup analysis also revealed that the training effect was more remarkable in the gesture + verbal training paradigm than in the gesture-only training paradigm. However, the differences in the training effects between short and long duration, and training supplied with and without feedback, were nonsignificant.

Conclusion

This study illustrates the current state of the literature on symbolic gestural training in PWA, and serves as a reference for clinicians, patients, and health policy-makers regarding the application of symbolic gestural training in clinical or rehabilitation programs.

Keywords:

• symbolic gestural training
• recovery
• spoken naming
• aphasia
• systematic review
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hainan Philosophy and Social Science Planning Office (HNSK(ZC)23-189) and the General Program of Natural Science Foundation of Hunan (2021JJ30446).