title: An Automated Approach to Examining Conversational Dynamics between People with Dementia and Their Carers.
abstract: The progressive neuropathology involved in dementia frequently causes a gradual decline in communication skills. Communication partners who are unaware of the specific communication problems faced by people with dementia (PWD) can inadvertently challenge their conversation partner, leading to distress and a reduced flow of information between speakers. Previous research has produced an extensive literature base recommending strategies to facilitate conversational engagement in dementia. However, empirical evidence for the beneficial effects of these strategies on conversational dynamics is sparse. This study uses a time-efficient computational discourse analysis tool called Discursis to examine the link between specific communication behaviours and content-based conversational engagement in 20 conversations between PWD living in residential aged-care facilities and care staff members. Conversations analysed here were baseline conversations recorded before staff members underwent communication training. Care staff members spontaneously exhibited a wide range of facilitative and non-facilitative communication behaviours, which were coded for analysis of conversation dynamics within these baseline conversations. A hybrid approach combining manual coding and automated Discursis metric analysis provides two sets of novel insights. Firstly, this study revealed nine communication behaviours that, if used by the care staff member in a given turn, significantly increased the appearance of subsequent content-based engagement in the conversation by PWD. Secondly, the current findings reveal alignment between human- and computer-generated labelling of communication behaviour for 8 out of the total 22 behaviours under investigation. The approach demonstrated in this study provides an empirical procedure for the detailed evaluation of content-based conversational engagement associated with specific communication behaviours.
authors.affiliation: Asia-Pacific Centre for Neuromodulation, UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia.|School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Atay
authors.affiliation: Asia-Pacific Centre for Neuromodulation, UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia.|School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Banyo, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Erin R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Conway
authors.affiliation: School of Communication and Arts, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.|School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Angus
authors.affiliation: School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiles
authors.affiliation: UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Herston, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Asia-Pacific Centre for Neuromodulation, UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia.|Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Robina, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chenery
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001331:Automation; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012984:Software; D013637:Tape Recording