Background
Aphasia is a communication disorder affecting participation. Although there are evidence-based practice recommendations about participation and aphasia rehabilitation, it may be challenging for speech-language pathologists to ensure that rehabilitation activities have an impact on the person’s participation, in part due to time limitations. Participation remains limited after rehabilitation for persons who have aphasia. Communities of practice (CoPs) are a collaborative knowledge transfer strategy that can be used for evidence-based practice implementation. The aim of this study was to describe the components and evaluate a CoP for speech-language pathologists about participation and aphasia rehabilitation.
Methods
Logic analysis was used to determine the adequacy between resources, implemented activities, outputs and short-term outcomes of the CoP. Qualitative and quantitative descriptive data were collected through observation and participants’ logbooks. Outputs and outcomes of the CoP were revealed through thematic analysis and interpretation of descriptive statistics.
Results
Resources including CoP design and educational aims, human and material resources were combined to create various web-based, online and offline activities. Participants invested more time per week than expected in the CoP, shared and created clinical tools and appreciated the array of suggested activities. Participant engagement allowed them to reflect, interact and collaborate with each other. All 13 participants reported they acquired knowledge about clinical tools and 12 mentioned they reflected on their practice. While the CoP was ongoing, six participants noticed evidence-practice gaps, seven prepared to change their practice, and three changed their practice towards including more participation-based considerations.
Conclusions
This study showed that speech-language pathologists can include more participation-based approaches in aphasia rehabilitation as a result of participating in a time-bound, web-based CoP.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-019-4338-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Introduction : les personnes ayant un traumatisme craniocérébral (TCC) demeurent généralement avec des séquelles physiques, sensorielles ou psychologiques qui perturbent leur capacité à réaliser leurs activités quotidiennes. Contexte : un projet d’accompagnement-citoyen personnalisé d’intégration communautaire (APIC) a été implanté pour pallier au manque de ressources et soutenir ces personnes dans la redéfinition de leurs projets de vie. Objectifs : cette étude vise à évaluer les effets de l’APIC sur le mieux-être et sur les capacités de personnes ayant un TCC à réaliser leurs activités de la vie quotidienne et de loisirs. Méthode : un devis mixte d’étude de cas multiples, utilisant une approche de recherche participative et collaborative a été privilégié. Des données qualitatives et quantitatives ont été recueillies lors d’entrevues semi-structurées auprès de neuf personnes ayant un TCC, à 6 mois et 12 mois du début de l’accompagnement. Résultats : l’étude démontre les retombées positives de l’APIC sur le développement de l’autonomie des participants et sur leur satisfaction quant à leur participation sociale. Discussion et conclusion : elle indique que l’accompagnement APIC est un espace sécurisant fondé sur la réciprocité entre l’accompagné/accompagnateur, mettant en action les capacités de résilience de la personne.
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