Author

Nancy Galvan

Date of Award

2005

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Program

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Supervisor

Dr. JB Orange

Abstract

Twelve family members of individuals with FTD completed a 16-item questionnaire to obtain their perspectives on pragmatic difficulties experienced by their relatives. Results indicate that family members perceive that their relatives with FTD demonstrate a range of pragmatic difficulties. Family members’ ratings for frequency of occurrence and extent of problem were relatively similar. Family members reported that difficulties related to social inappropriateness and to topic maintenance were the most problematic. Difficulties that were perceived to occur most frequently were not consistently rated as the most problematic. There were substantial differences between spousal and non-spousal family member ratings of how problematic the pragmatic difficulties were. Comparisons of multiple, same-family member ratings revealed relatively consistent perceptions of the occurrence and frequency of occurrence of pragmatic difficulties. However, family members from the same family were inconsistent in their ratings of the extent of the problem. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.