Author: Emma Grace
Grace, Emma, 2019 Young people who use augmentative and alternative communication: effects of a peer e-mentoring intervention on participation in online conversation, Flinders University, College of Nursing and Health Sciences
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Young people with complex communication needs are limited in their ability to use speech in everyday communication and may use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to support their interactions. Young people who use AAC participate less in face-to-face conversation and have reduced social participation compared with their typically developing peers. Evidence-based interventions targeting increased participation of young people who use AAC are important, because participation is linked to longer-term health and development.
Online conversation was identified as one real-world context for participation where young people who use AAC are not currently participating as much as they would like. Online conversation may offer advantages given its different expectations for turn adjacency and timing. To date, research has not applied discourse analysis to describe patterns of linguistic turns or pragmatic functions in online conversation or how these may reflect changes in participation in online conversation following intervention. Previous research has established the benefits of face-to-face social media use interventions to enhance social media use and social networks of individuals who use AAC. Mentoring was proposed as an alternative approach to providing social media interventions for this group. This study investigated the potential of a cross-age peer e-mentoring intervention to strengthen participation in online conversation of young people who use AAC.
A mixed methods study was employed to investigate the effectiveness of a 4-month cross-age peer e-mentoring intervention to enhance participation in online conversation by young people who use AAC (n = 4, aged 13;4–18;3 [years; months]). Quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously from three groups; the mentees, mentee’s care givers, and mentors. Emphasis was placed on quantitative approaches in the data analysis, and a multiple-baseline single-case experimental design (SCED) was employed to report observed changes in participation in online conversation. Fidelity analysis of the intervention identified that the mentoring was provided according to the research definition.
The primary hypotheses were that improvements in participation in online conversation following the intervention would be observed by: (a) improvements in participants’ perception of performance and satisfaction with performance, (b) increase in the total words transmitted in online conversation, (c) positive improvements in participants’ self-reported experiences of participation, and (d) increase in optional linguistic moves taken in online conversation.
Mean changes in perceptions of performance and satisfaction with performance indicated clinically and statistically significant (p < .05) improvements following the intervention. Statistical analysis of the SCED data demonstrated increases in the number of words written (p < .05) and in the optional linguistic moves (p < .001) taken in online conversation. Participants rated their experiences of participation in online conversation positively, and their experiences of choice and control increased following the intervention.
This research demonstrated the feasibility of cross-age peer e-mentoring interventions. Findings confirmed that cross-age peer e-mentors provided mentoring support
Keywords: Augmentative and alternative communication, Complex communication needs, Cross-Age peer mentoring, e-Mentoring, Intervention, Participation, Social media
Subject: Speech Pathology thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2019
School: College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Supervisor: A/P Pammi Raghavendra