Communication Bridge: A Person-centered Internet-based Intervention for Individuals With Primary Progressive Aphasia

This study will use a randomized controlled trial design to evaluate the effect of two evidence-based treatments for adults with mild Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). The aim of the study is to help us better understand the effects of speech language therapy on communication abilities in individuals with PPA.

Participants with a diagnosis of PPA and their actively-engaged care partners will be involved in the study for 12 months. Each participant will receive a laptop equipped with the necessary applications and features for the study. Participants will receive 5 evaluations and 15 speech therapy sessions with a licensed speech therapist, as well as access to Communication Bridge, a personalized web application to practice home exercises that reinforce treatment strategies. There are no costs to participate in this study.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Primary Progressive Aphasia
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Communication Bridge™; Behavioral: Evidence-Based Impairment Focused

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 95
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
      • Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease - Northwestern University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 30 years to 100 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria (person with PPA):

1. Meets diagnostic criteria for PPA based on neurologist and supporting medical assessments (extracted from medical records)
2. English as primary language used in daily communication activities (by self-report)
3. Adequate hearing (aided or unaided) for communicating with others in a crowded room (by self-report)
4. Adequate vision (aided or unaided) for reading a newspaper, or other functional materials (by self-report)
5. Able to pass technology screening and demonstrates sufficient knowledge for use of video conference and Communication Bridge™ web application use (with or without training)
6. Geriatric Depression Scale score ≤ 9
7. Mild-moderate PPA informed by a structured interview with a speech-language pathologist and a standardized testing battery.

Inclusion Criteria (Co-enrolled communication partner):

1. 18+ years of age
2. English as primary language used in daily communication activities (by self-report)
3. Adequate hearing (aided or unaided) for communicating with others in a crowded room (by self-report)
4. Able to pass technology screening* and demonstrates sufficient knowledge for use of video conference and Communication Bridge™ web application use (with or without training)

Exclusion Criteria:

• A dementia diagnosis other than Primary Progressive Aphasia
• Participation is co-enrolled in an outside speech language therapy program during the study course.
• Communication partners will be excluded if they have a pre-existing communication impairment that would affect study participation (e.g., aphasia, dementia)

Medical records will be requested and reviewed to determine eligibility.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Communication Bridge™; Participants receive Communication Bridge™, a multi-component, participation-focused, dyadic intervention in which both the person with PPA and their co-enrolled communication partner are intervention recipients. Communication Bridge™ is modelled on the Living with Aphasia: Framework for Outcome Measurement (A-FROM) and the Care Pathway Model that was developed for persons living with primary progressive aphasia. Consistent with participation-focused intervention models personally salient training stimuli are incorporated into all therapy activities in the Experimental arm.	Behavioral: Communication Bridge™; Evidence-based speech language therapy treatment will be compared and contrasted in the two arms of the study.
Active Comparator: Evidence-Based Impairment Focused; The Control arm includes a non-dyadic intervention in which the person with PPA is the active intervention recipient and their communication partner is in a supporting role. In the Control arm, participants receive a speech-language intervention designed to address impairment and functional limitations, comprised of activities that address word retrieval and 'automatic' speech production using fixed, non-personalized, stimuli across participants.	Behavioral: Evidence-Based Impairment Focused; Evidence-based speech language therapy treatment will be compared and contrasted in the two arms of the study.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Communication Confidence PROM	Communication Confidence Rating Scale in Aphasia, a 0-100 numeric rating scale with 0 representing 'not confident' and 100 representing 'very confident'. Higher scores indicate greater confidence.	5 assessment time points through study completion, an average of 1 year, including change over time
Change in Communication Participation PROM	Communication Participation Item Bank, a 4-point rating scale with 0 representing 'very much' and 3 representing 'not at all'. Higher scores indicate greater severity of communication challenges.	5 assessment time points through study completion, an average of 1 year, including change over time
Change in Communication Participation Person Centered Goals	Goal Attainment Scaling, a 7-point rating scale with -3 representing 'no longer participating' and +3 representing 'exceeded goal'. Higher scores indicate better progress in goal achievement.	5 assessment time points through study completion, an average of 1 year, including change over time

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Word accuracy (trained words)	Percent accuracy on trained words	5 assessment time points through study completion, an average of 1 year, including change over time
Change in Script accuracy (trained scripts)	Percent accuracy on trained scripts	5 assessment time points through study completion, an average of 1 year, including change over time

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Northwestern University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Emily Rogalski, Ph.D., Northwestern University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Mesulam MM, Coventry C, Kuang A, Bigio EH, Mao Q, Flanagan ME, Gefen T, Sridhar J, Geula C, Zhang H, Weintraub S, Rogalski EJ. Memory Resilience in Alzheimer Disease With Primary Progressive Aphasia. Neurology. 2021 Feb 9;96(6):e916-e925. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000011397. Epub 2021 Jan 13.
• Roberts AC, Rademaker AW, Salley EA, Mooney A, Morhardt D, Fried-Oken M, Weintraub S, Mesulam M, Rogalski E. Communication Bridge-2 (CB2): an NIH Stage 2 randomized control trial of a speech-language intervention for communication impairments in individuals with mild to moderate primary progressive aphasia. Trials. 2022 Jun 13;23(1):487. doi: 10.1186/s13063-022-06162-7.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 3, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 23, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): March 23, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 8, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 8, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): December 13, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 28, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 27, 2023
• Last Verified: June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: dementia; Alzheimer's disease; communication; aphasia; primary progressive aphasia; frontotemporal dementia
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurocognitive Disorders; Neurodegenerative Diseases; TDP-43 Proteinopathies; Proteostasis Deficiencies; Dementia; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Speech Disorders; Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration; Aphasia; Frontotemporal Dementia; Aphasia, Primary Progressive; Pick Disease of the Brain
• Other Study ID Numbers: STU00206086; 1R01AG055425-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Publication of study protocol manuscript prior to enrolling final participant. Communication Bridge Manual of Procedures upon publication of study protocol or when final participant completes all study procedures (whichever comes later). Statistical Analysis Plan to be published with study protocol. Informed Consent Form available immediately
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: With approval of study administration team, with the exception of documents that will be made available to the public following study completion (manual of procedures). Analyzed and processed data will be available by request with an approved Collaborator Agreement.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No