Adaptation of the Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST) Protocol to Persian: A Case Report

Document Type : Case Reports

Authors
Marzieh Ayoubi 1
Amin Modarres Zadeh 2
Leila Ghasisin 3
1 Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 PhD, Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
10.48305/jrrs.2026.47142.1177
Abstract
Introduction: Despite the high prevalence of verb and noun retrieval impairment in aphasia, no standardized, culturally and linguistically adapted treatment program for this impairment exists for Persian-speaking individuals with aphasia in Iran. There is therefore a clear need for Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNeST), which aims to increase sentence production and promote the generalization of naming to untrained items. Accordingly, the present study aimed to adapt this method for use in the Persian language, to establish the content validity of its implementation, and to determine its effectiveness in a Persian-speaking individual with aphasia.
Materials and Methods: Following the adaptation of the VNeST protocol to Persian, 110 transitive verbs were selected from the Valency Dictionary of Persian Verbs, and their validity was evaluated by a panel of experts. For 102 verbs, all possible agents and patients were compiled, and the corresponding scenarios were developed. For each scenario, both minimal and maximal cues were provided. Subsequently, the Persian VNeST protocol was administered to one Persian-speaking individual with aphasia.
Results: The findings of the first phase indicate that the selected verbs and the developed scenarios possess adequate content validity. In the second phase, VNeST led to improvement in the participant's naming performance. The between-phase treatment analysis, using the percentage of non-overlapping data (PND) derived from naming assessments conducted before, during, and after treatment, yielded 90%, confirming the treatment's effectiveness for this individual with aphasia.
Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that VNeST can also be applied in the Persian language and that its implementation procedure possesses adequate content validity. Furthermore, the degree of improvement in the naming deficits of the individual with aphasia under this method was acceptable, indicating its effectiveness.
Keywords
Aphasia
Verb network strengthening treatment
Anomia
Case-report
Subjects
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