ASSESSMENT PRACTICES OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS FOR COGNITIVE COMMUNICATION IMPAIRMENT AFTER TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

Background of the Study: The aim of the present research was to examine the assessment practices of Speech-Language Pathologists for Cognitive Communication Disorders after Traumatic Brain Injury. Methodology: It was a cross-sectional survey method, a convenient sampling technique. Research was carried out from January 2021 to June 2021. The sample size was n=21, out of which n= 9 (42.8%) participants, each from Rawalpindi and Islamabad n= 3 (14.4%) participants from Lahore filled in their responses. Medium; being Online, the questionnaire was distributed either through email, WhatsApp or Facebook MessengerApp. SLPs who were undergraduates or who had no experience working with TBI clients were excluded. Questionnaire included 12 items. Responses of research participants were recorded using Google Forms and presented in the form of n (%). The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, and chi-square analysis was performed to confirm the association between settings, city of practice and years of experience through Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22.0. Results: Speech-Language Pathologists reported that they routinely assessed (62% each) Receptive and Expressive communication. However; less than half of the participants routinely evaluated domains like verbal pragmatic skills (43.3%), functional communication (33.3%) and phonemic awareness (33.3%). SLPs assessed their clients by employing tests like MoCA (55.62%), Quick Aphasia Battery (18.75%), Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA Protocol) (14.35%) and a combination of Formal (48%) and Informal (52%) clinical interviews. Conclusion: Informal discourse assessment is incorporated more frequently as compared to informal discourse evaluation in assessment practices of Speech-Language pathologists of Pakistan for cognitive communication impairment followed by traumatic brain injury.

Functioning of NEPRA as an Effective Power Regulator of Pakistan

The effectiveness of a regulatory agency is outcome of the quality of its management, whereas a strong infrastructure i.e., fulfillment of institutional requirements and autonomy of functions are the basic requirements of an autonomous regulatory system, besides the environmental factors that can also influence the effectiveness of a regulatory body. NEPRA, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority was established in 1997 to ensure transparent and judicious regulation in the power sector, after restructuring of power sector. Earlier the government was the operator as well as the regulator for both power services providing companies i.e., WAPDA and KESC. The power sector restructuring and other reforms in the energy sector were the efforts to avert the risk of any future energy crisis, but they could not be proved to be fruitful. This research work is based on evaluation of the efficiency of NEPRA as an effective electric power regulator in Pakistan, considering the above stated four main factors. The scientific research method, consisting of hypotheses testing and the formulation of regression model was used in the research work. It has been concluded that NEPRA is working in a nice manner. There are three stakeholders of NEPRA, i.e., government, electric power companies and the electricity consumers. Out of which government and most of the electric power companies are satisfied with the performance of NEPRA, but the electricity consumers are less satisfied. Availability of trained manpower and implementation of regulations have been pointed out as the areas of special attention to improve the performance of NEPRA. Some steps are also suggested in this regard. This study is an attempt to improve the effectiveness of NEPRA by exploring the influence of different factors upon it. The research work has contributed towards increasing the ability of NEPRA to overcome the present power crisis of Pakistan and to address the grievances of electricity consumers.