Communication Disorders Ph.D. Dissertations

Aphasia Communication and Activity Groups: Experiences and Perspectives of Group Members and Facilitators

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Communication Disorders

First Advisor

Brent Archer (Committee Chair)

Second Advisor

Megan Rancier (Committee Member)

Third Advisor

Jason Whitfield (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Siva Santhanam (Committee Member)

Abstract

Aphasia groups are a popular and effective rehabilitation approach to improve people with aphasias’ (PWA) communication and psychosocial health. While current evidence supports the efficacy of aphasia groups, we have minimal insight on the factors that lead to the measured benefits. Recent research exploring the proceedings of aphasia groups and the features that lead to success have produced useful insights; however, they have reflected the perspectives of researchers rather than those who are directly involved in aphasia groups. In the current project we centered the experiences and perspectives of community members by interviewing 5 people with severe aphasia who have attended an aphasia group and 13 experienced facilitators. For participants with severe aphasia, we focused on their ideas regarding how aphasia groups should function with a specific focus on aspects that relate to meeting their needs given the severity of their aphasia. We also focused on facilitators’ insights on the ideal aphasia group environment, ideal resources, and contributions of facilitators and group members to interaction during groups. We analyzed participant’s insights using qualitative content analysis. We presented these findings across three papers, each with a set of primary categories, tertiary categories, and subcategories. Facilitators described ways to create a comfortable and supportive space for communication and group participation with tools and materials that address the varied group member needs. Facilitators’ ideas regarding the materials and tools were largely tied into their insights on interaction in aphasia groups where they described how they and members with aphasia worked to prevent or address communication challenges in the group that arose as a result of aphasia. Insights from the participants with severe aphasia captured the importance of the group makeup, the materials and tools for supporting communication, as well as collaborative and supportive features of interaction with peers and facilitators. Participant’s shared ideas that can be trialed by practicing facilitators in established groups to improve current practices. We can also use findings to inform future studies of interaction in aphasia groups and trials modulating factors that community members have indicated are important.

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