Examining Interactions Between PALS and Caregivers

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

• Registration Number: NCT06819124
• Lead Sponsor: Penn State University

Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the effect of communicative interaction on verbal communication in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and their caregivers.

The question is, What are the effects of communicative interaction on verbal communication in people with ALS when they interact with their caregivers and does this change over time?

Participants will read words and sentences while they are interacting with their caregivers.

Detailed Description

PALS and Caregivers will participate in two sets (pre-test and post-test) of interactive tasks two weeks apart. Over two weeks, they will complete the collaborative word-matching task ten times (once every weekday for an average of 10 mins/day) on their own.

The study is designed to examine two things. First, to examine the speech produced by PALS with familiar interlocutors. Second, to examine the changes in speech production as a function of collaborative practice.

Plans for Assignment - This is a single group study in which all participants will engage in the same tasks.

Delivery of Intervention: Using tablets and audio recording devices provided to them, participants will complete this task in the comfort of their home. Study protocols will be explained via videoconferencing by experimenters. Produced speech will be recorded using solid-state audio recorders as well as remotely through the video conferencing software.

Adequacy of Sample size. Assuming medium effect sizes (Cohen's f = 0.3) based on our pilot data, for 80% power at an alpha of .05, the investigators will require 76 speakers. The investigators propose n =76 PALS and their caregivers (total 152) in order to account for speech variability that is common for PALS.

Adequacy of Analyses. The proposed statistical analyses (Generalized mixed effects regressions) are standard and will be used to analyze the effect of the intervention on the outcome measures described below. Severity of condition (for PALS) will be included in the analyses and by-subject slopes and intercepts will be used to account for variability across participants.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2025-01-22
• Status Verified: 2025-02
• Study First Submitted: 2025-02-04
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-02-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-02-04
• Study First Posted: 2025-02-11
• Last Update Posted: 2025-02-11
• Primary Completion: 2029-02-28
• Study Completion: 2029-02-28

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 152

Inclusion Criteria

Speakers with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (PALS-people with ALS)

• diagnosis of ALS following the revised EL Escorial criteria
• no history of other neurological conditions (e.g., stroke)
• no cognitive impairment assessed by Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment (mini MoCA)
• detectable speech disturbance according to the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R)
• the ability to produce single words
• being a native speaker of American English (AE).

Caregivers

• being a caregiver of a participant with ALS
• being a native speaker of American English (AE).

Exclusion Criteria

• None - if volunteer meets the inclusion criteria, then they will be enrolled

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Duration of speech sounds	two 60 minute sessions	Durations that characterize speech sounds will be made on speech recorded in the intervention task.
Formant frequencies of speech sounds	two 60 minute sessions	Formant frequencies that characterize speech sounds will be made on speech recorded in the intervention task.
Intelligibility of recorded speech	two 60 minute sessions	Perceptual judgments will be provided by solo, naïve listeners who did not participate in the interactions. Listeners will hear recorded speech of PALS and age-matched speakers recorded across the different tasks and indicate what they heard. The score will be expressed in percent. The possible range is between 0-100%. The higher scores mean a better outcome.
Pragmatic Properties	Two 60 minute sessions	The investigators will count the number and duration of silent portions of speech, filled pauses, linguistic mazes, speaking turns, and interruptions in the unstructured communication task. A composite measure of the individual measures will provide an index of an individual's contribution to the conversation.
Syntactic properties	Two 60 minute sessions	Syntactic complexity in the unstructured communication task will be measured through mean length of grammatical units, clausal density, and clause type. Each variable will be assessed at both the dyadic level (e.g., clausal density for both interlocutors together) and at the level of the individual speaker (e.g., clausal density of each speaker). A composite of these measures will provide an index of the syntactic complexity of the conversation.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Speech Core, Pennsylvania State University; 🇺🇸 University Park, Pennsylvania, United States