Browsing by Author "Amponsah, C."
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Item Community service providers' roles in supporting communication disability rehabilitation in Majority World contexts: An example from Ghana(International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2019-08-22) Wylie, K.; Davidson, B.; Marshall, J.; Bampoe, J.O.; Amponsah, C.; McAllister, L.Purpose: In Majority World countries, where speech-language pathology services are extremely limited, people with communication disabilities (PWCD) may seek help from a range of service providers. This qualitative research aimed to explore the nature of community services offered to people with communication disabilities who seek help in Accra, Ghana. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine individuals from three professions: pastors (3), doctors (3), and herbalists (3) exploring services that they may offer to PWCD seeking help. Interviews were analysed using Thematic Network Analysis. Result: Six global themes described beliefs about communication disability, types of intervention, explanations provided to people with communication disabilities, promoting communication, processes for selecting treatments, and links between service providers. Interventions encompassed physical, spiritual, psychosocial and environmental approaches, with the notion of plural beliefs interwoven through a number of themes. Conclusion: In Ghana, and other Majority World contexts, service providers in sectors not commonly associated with communication disability rehabilitation may have important roles to play in supporting people with communication disabilities. Understanding the contributions of other service providers may assist the growing profession of speech-language pathology to collaborate across sectors, to develop specific, culturally responsive approaches to service development.Item Community service providers’ roles in supporting communication disability rehabilitation in Majority World contexts: An example from Ghana(International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2020) Wylie, K.; Davidson, B.; Bampoe, J.O.; Amponsah, C.; McAllister, L.Purpose: In Majority World countries, where speech-language pathology services are extremely limited, people with communication disabilities may seek help from a range of 3 service providers. This qualitative research aimed to explore the nature of community services offered to people with communication disabilities who seek help in Accra, Ghana. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine individuals from three professions: pastors (3), doctors (3), and herbalists (3) exploring services that they may offer to PWCD seeking help. Interviews were analysed using Thematic Network Analysis. Result: Six global themes described beliefs about communication disability, types of intervention, explanations provided to people with communication disabilities, promoting communication, processes for selecting treatments, and links between service providers. Interventions encompassed physical, spiritual, psychosocial and environmental approaches, with the notion of plural beliefs interwoven through a number of themes. Conclusion: In Ghana, and other Majority World contexts, service providers in sectors not commonly associated with communication disability rehabilitation may have important roles to play in supporting people with communication disabilities. Understanding the contributions of other service providers may assist the growing profession of speech language pathology to collaborate across sectors, to develop specific, culturally responsive approaches to service development.Item The Postal System in the Era of Technological Advancement in Communication: A Case Study of Ghana Post(University of Ghana, 2015-03) Amponsah, C.; Tietaah, G.; University of Ghana, Education School of Information and Communication, Studies Department of Communication StudiesThe world is today referred to, metaphorically, as a global village and a key contributing factor is the advances in technology. A great deal of these advances is happening in the communication sector. Faster and more economical ways of technology-aided communication keep on flooding the social and corporate market. The postal system until the introduction of the internet was a key player in the communication industry as the majority of people communicated through hard copy mails. The question is, what has become of the postal system in these times when there is fast technological advancement in the area of communication? This study was designed to provide answers to this question. Grounded within the framework of three interrelated change theories, the study employed a qualitative approach in gathering data. Specifically, in-depth interviews were conducted with key and relevant management staff of the Ghana Postal Services Corporation. The study found out that Ghana Post has been affected by technological advancement in communication as communication via hardcopy mail has gone down drastically. However, its services are being patronized extensively by the corporate institutions that send correspondence to their clients. Also, Ghana Post has taken advantage of the advance in technology to improve their services, including the ability to verify an address before it is posted to avoid mails that are sent back to senders. There has also been a change in the traditional role of the post office since Ghana Post is now into insurance as well as telecommunication as part of its response to the changing communication needs of the public.Item Preliminary Findings on Self-Reported Voice Disorders in Urban Ghana: A Qualitative Description Study(Communication Disorders Quarterly, 2020-04-24) Amponsah, C.; Tettevi, G.; Gomado, L.; Heitzman, A.; Ziegler, A.This preliminary qualitative description study explored knowledge from urban Ghanaians about the nature and impact of their self-reported voice problem. Ten Ghanaians were screened for a self-reported voice disorder using the Voice Handicap Index–10 (VHI-10), and they also completed a structured interview with a speech-language therapist. Content analysis was completed from interview responses using quantification of data. Four out of 10 adult Ghanaians demonstrated high VHI-10 scores that indicated a self-reported voice disorder. Themes that emerged included a recurring problem with voice, multiple vocal impairments, limitations with participating in vocal activities, and other health problems. Lack of financial resources and little knowledge about voice disorders were barriers to accessing care. In summary, four adult Ghanaians with a self-reported voice disorder described multiple problems with their voice, limiting their participation in vocal activities. Implications of these preliminary findings include early identification and improving voice care access to avoid handicapping voice problems.Item Processing of time reference in agrammatic speakers of Akan: a language with grammatical tone(Aphasiology, 2020-03-10) Amponsah, C.; Tsiwah, F.; Lartey, N.; Martínez-Ferreiro, S.; Popov, S.; Bastiaanse, R.Background: Languages of the world have several ways of expressing time reference. Many languages such as those in the Indo- European group express time reference through tense. Languages such as Chinese and Standard Indonesian express time reference through aspectual adverbs, while Akan does so through grammatical tone. Previous studies have found that time reference is selectively impaired, with reference to the past being more impaired than reference to the non-past. The PAst DIscourse LInking Hypothesis (PADILIH) posits that pastime reference is difficult because it requires discourse linking. Aims: The goal of this study was first to examine whether pastime reference is impaired also in languages that do not use grammatical affixes but rather tone, to make time reference. Second, this study aims to decouple the effect of tone from the effect of temporal reference on Akan verbs. Method and Procedures: Ten Akan agrammatic speakers and 10 non-brain-damaged speakers (NBDs) participated in this study. An Akan adapted version of the Test for Assessing Reference of Time (African TART), for both production and comprehension was used. The TART focuses on the future, present (habitual) and the pastime frames. Additionally, five of the agrammatic speakers performed two tonal discrimination tasks: a non-linguistic and a linguistic (lexical) one. Outcomes and Results: While the NBDs scored at ceiling, the agrammatic speakers made errors, and these affected past more than present and the future time references, in both comprehension and production tasks. However, the comprehension data showed a dissociation between the present habitual and the future. The substitution error analysis revealed a preference for the present. The five agrammatic speakers showed an intact performance on non-linguistic tonal discrimination task. Conclusion: The conclusion is that regardless of how time reference is expressed, whether through inflectional morphology or grammatical tone, reference to the past is problematic for individuals with agrammatic aphasia. The fact that the agrammatic speakers could perceive the non-linguistic tonal differences demonstrates that it is not tone in general that is disrupted, but rather time reference, particularly reference to the past, as predicted by the PADILIH.Item Resumption in the production of focused constructions in Akan speakers with agrammatism(Aphasiology, 2019-11-06) Amponsah, C.; Lartey, N.; Tsiwah, F.; Martinez-Ferreiro, S.; Bastiaanse, R.Background: The distribution of pronouns varies cross-linguistically. This distribution has led to conflicting results in studies that investigated pronoun resolution in agrammatic indviduals. In the investigation of pronominal resolution, the linguistic phenomenon of “resumption” is understudied in agrammatism. The construction of pronominal resolution in Akan presents the opportunity to thoroughly examine resumption. Aims: To start, the present study examines the production of (pronominal) resumption in Akan focus constructions (who-questions and focused declaratives). Second, we explore the effect of grammatical tone on the processing of pronominal (resumption) since Akan is a tonal language. Methods & Procedures: First, we tested the ability to distinguish linguistic and non-linguistic tone in Akan agrammatic speakers. Then, we administered an elicitation task to five Akan agrammatic individuals, controlling for the structural variations in the realization of resumption: focused who-questions and declaratives with (i) only a resumptive pronoun, (ii) only a clause determiner, (iii) a resumptive pronoun and a clause determiner co-occurring, and (iv) neither a resumptive pronoun nor a clause determiner. Outcomes & Results: Tone discrimination .both for pitch and for lexical tone was unimpaired. The production task demonstrated that the production of resumptive pronouns and clause determiners was intact. However, the production of declarative sentences in derived word order was impaired; wh-object questions were relatively well-preserved. Conclusions: We argue that the problems with sentence production are highly selective: linguistic tones and resumption are intact but word order is impaired in non-canonical declarative sentencesItem Self-Help and Help-Seeking for Communication Disability in Ghana: Implications for the Development of Communication Disability Rehabilitation Services(Globalization and Health, 2017-12) Wylie, K.; McAllister, L.; Davidson, B.; Marshall, J.; Amponsah, C.; Bampoe, J.O.Background In low and middle-income countries, such as Ghana, communication disability is poorly recognised and rehabilitation services for people with communication disability are limited. As rehabilitation services for communication disability develop, and the profession of speech-language pathology grows, it is important to consider how services can most appropriately respond to the needs and preferences of the community. Understanding the ways in which people currently self-help and seek help for communication disability is central to developing services that build on existing local practices and are relevant to the community. Methods A qualitative descriptive survey was used to explore likely self-help and help-seeking behaviours for communication disability, in Accra, Ghana. The survey required participants to describe responses to hypothetical scenarios related to communication disability. A mix of theoretical sampling and convenience sampling was used. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse data and develop categories and subcategories of reported self-help behaviours and sources of help and advice for communication disability. Results One hundred and thirty-six participants completed the survey. Results indicated that community members would be likely to engage in a variety self-help strategies in response to communication disability. These included working directly with a person with a communication disability to attempt to remediate a communication impairment, altering physical and communication environments, changing attitudes or care practices, educating themselves about the communication disability, providing resources, and responding in spiritual ways. Participants indicated that they would seek help for communication disability across a range of sectors – including the Western healthcare, religious, and traditional sectors. Conclusions Understanding existing community actions to self-help and help-seek may allow emerging communication rehabilitation services, including the profession of speech-language pathology, to build on existing community practices in resource-limited contexts such as Ghana.