Investigation of Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Functions Related to Pragmatic Communication Abilities in Aphasia Patients

—Using Communicative Abilities of Daily Living Japanese Version Short Form and the Western Aphasia Battery Japanese Version as Indicators—

Abstract

It is known that the communication disorders of aphasic individuals are strongly related to their language disorders. However, the relationships between communication ability and individual linguistic and non-linguistic functions, including intellectual functions, as well as the strength of the relationships, have not yet been clarified. In the present study, we investigated the linguistic and non-linguistic functions related to pragmatic communication ability in aphasic patients using the Communicative Abilities of Daily Living Japanese version (CADL) short form and the Western Aphasia Battery Japanese version (WAB). The results showed that there were significant correlations between the scores of the CADL short form and age, years of education, and individual subtests of the WAB. As a result of multiple regression analysis with CADL short form scores as the dependent variable and WAB subtest scores as the independent variable, auditory comprehension, writing, and construction of the WAB were extracted as significant subtests. In addition, the results suggested that subtests related to pragmatic communication ability differ according to differences in terms of number of months since onset and the aphasia type.