eprintid: 1514493
rev_number: 38
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/01/51/44/93
datestamp: 2017-04-25 14:43:20
lastmod: 2022-01-12 23:48:15
status_changed: 2017-04-25 14:43:20
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Woodhead, ZVJ
creators_name: Ong, YH
creators_name: Leff, AP
title: Web-based therapy for hemianopic alexia is syndrome-specific
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B02
divisions: C07
divisions: D07
divisions: F82
note: © 2015, BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
abstract: Rehabilitation studies rarely test the specificity of an intervention by using a control group who are matched to the therapy group in terms of baseline impairment, but who do not have the same causative syndrome. In this study, we tested the specificity of an eye movement therapy for a common, acquired reading disorder called hemianopic alexia, by comparing hemianopic participants with slow text reading, to age and reading speed matched controls without hemianopia. The study was carried out using an online therapy programme called ‘Read-Right’ that contains validated tests of the visual field and text reading speed, as well as an eye movement therapy: laterally scrolling text. 201 self-selected participants completed at least 5 h of online therapy. After excluding those with reading speeds incompatible with hemianopic alexia and those with bilateral abnormalities on their visual field test, we were left with 105 who were then classified into one of three groups depending on their visual field: (1) right-sided hemianopia (n=47); (2) left-sided hemianopia (n=36); (3) no hemianopia (n=22, control group). The three groups did not differ in terms of baseline text reading speed, but they were all significantly slower than expected based on normative data from the same age range. A repeated-measures analysis of variance showed a significant therapy by group interaction (p=0.039). Post hoc, paired t tests revealed that this was driven by reading speed improvements for the right-sided and left-sided hemianopic alexic groups but not the controls. This result demonstrates that a clinically validated therapy for hemianopic alexia improves text reading speed in hemianopic patients but not in participants matched for slow text reading but without hemianopia. This adds weight to the hypothesis that eye movement therapies are syndrome-specific. It also demonstrates an advantage of using web-based vehicles to deliver syndrome-specific therapies that can be accessed by patients worldwide.
date: 2015-07-01
date_type: published
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000041
oa_status: green
full_text_type: other
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1057279
doi: 10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000041
lyricists_name: Leff, Alexander
lyricists_name: Woodhead, Zoe
lyricists_id: APLEF35
lyricists_id: ZWOOD09
actors_name: Woodhead, Zoe
actors_id: ZWOOD09
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: BMJ Innovations
volume: 1
number: 3
pagerange: 88-95
issn: 2055-642X
citation:        Woodhead, ZVJ;    Ong, YH;    Leff, AP;      (2015)    Web-based therapy for hemianopic alexia is syndrome-specific.                   BMJ Innovations , 1  (3)   pp. 88-95.    10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000041 <https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2015-000041>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1514493/1/Woodhead_RR_3Groups_v5.pdf