Melodic Intonation Therapy for Aphasia: A Multi-Level Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials and Individual Participant Data
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Popescu, T., Stahl, B., et al. (2022).
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1516(1), 76-84.
This systematic review and meta-analysis investigates the effects of melodic intonation therapy for individuals with post-stroke aphasia.
Medical University of Vienna; University of Vienna (Austria)
From database inception to August 2021
Peer-reviewed studies
22
Pooled findings from RCTs demonstrated small to moderate positive effects (<em>g</em>) of melodic intonation therapy (MIT) for individuals with post-stroke aphasia when compared to controls (<em>g </em>= 0.31, 95% CI: −0.01 to 0.63). Larger effects were noted with analysis of participant data (<em>g </em>= 1.72, 95% CI: 1.00 to 2.42). Of note, most of the results were based on non-communicative expressive language measures (e.g., word and sentence repetition). Other limitations to this review included an overall paucity of evidence, use of non-validated measures, lack of methodological rigor within included studies, and heterogeneity between studies. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted with caution with further research examining the efficacy of MIT for people with post-stroke aphasia warranted, especially in the areas of carryover and generalization.
