A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

preliminary studies as described in Chapter 3. The procedure was then
evaluated with an adult with no history of stroke and who was considered to
have normal cognitive and linguistic abilities (pilot study one, see section 4.4),
an adult who had had a stroke but was not aphasic (pilot study two, see section
4.5) and finally with a post-stroke adult who presented with aphasia (pilot study
three, see section 4.6).
4.2 SCREENING ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE
Screening assessments (discussed below) were administered prior to the
training sessions to establish the cognitive and linguistic abilities of each
participant, as well as to establish their overall emotional state at the time of the
investigation. In order to highlight various methods of learning new information,
while allowing participants to choose their own preferred method (see section
3.3.3), common methods of learning were discussed during this initial session
and a leaflet depicting each method (in written and picture format) was given to
each participant (see Appendix 4.1).
4.2.1 Evaluation of emotional well-being
As a person’s emotional state (such as depression and anxiety), may influence
their motivation to learn (see section 2.3.1 and 2.6.3.2), the Hospital Anxiety and
Depression scale (HADs) (Zigmond and Snaith, 1983) was completed with each
participant (see Appendix 4.2). This is a self-evaluation questionnaire that has
been established as a self-rating instrument for depression and anxiety. While
significant aspects of the syndromes of anxiety and depression are not covered
by this scale, a study involving a population of 65,648 participants found that the
HADs was an instrument that had good psychometric properties (Mykletun,
Stordal and Dahl, 2001). The scoring system for the HADs was followed
according to instructions and results indicated whether an individual’s emotional
102