The Importance of Aphasia Communication Groups

Abstract

Chronic aphasia is linked to poor functional recovery, depression, and social isolation. In the exploration of the above factors, the role of aphasia communication groups has evolved. Aphasia communication groups for stroke survivors with chronic aphasia and their communication buddies are gaining clinical importance. Communication buddies can be family members, friends, carers, health professionals, and speech and language therapy students who serve as communication facilitators for each group member. Group members share experiences on stroke and aphasia by using technology/tablets and the total communication approach. The benefits or outcomes of group involvement are measured by assessment of functional communication, individual self-ratings of the impact of aphasia on communication, and quality of life after stroke. The use of the communication buddy system, total communication approach, and systematic evaluations enables therapists to measure the effectiveness and efficacy of communication groups in terms of functional communication, social inclusion, and quality of life.

Adaptation of The Scenario Test for Greek‐speaking people with aphasia: A reliability and validity study

“…The Scenario Test‐GR can measure communication skills using any modality, verbal and/or non‐verbal (e.g., gestures, pointing to objects, mimicking, writing down keywords or drawing a picture; van der Meulen et al., 2010). PWA are often dependent on their communication partner to get the message across (Charalambous & Kambanaros, 2021). Communication partners assist PWA to reveal the competence of their skills in using multimodal communication, be it verbal, gestural, written, drawings or use of a communication aid (Pierce et al., 2019).…”

“…Recently, Doedens and Meteyard (2019) extended Clark's (1996) definition by elaborating further on the characteristics of FC, as follows: FC is a joint activity between two people (interactive) in which multiple interdependent channels of communication are integrated into a single combined message (multimodal), and that it is reliant on shared knowledge between speakers, the physical environment and the communicative environment (contextual). More recent studies (Charalambous & Kambanaros, 2021;Doedens & Meteyard, 2019;Pierce et al, 2019) reveal that for people with aphasia (PWA) to be successful communicators in everyday situations, they need a supportive environment and a partner who is willing to prompt and support communication. For this study, the word 'functional' implies communication which is spontaneous and independent in a supportive communicative environment.…”

Therapies and Challenges in the Post-Stroke Aphasia Rehabilitation Arena: Current and Future Prospects

“…In ACGs, PWA together with their communication partners interact all together on a regular basis. Interestingly, there is increasing evidence supporting the multifaceted benefits of ACGs for PWA (see [ 65 ]). For instance, improvements in conversational skills and communication strategies [ 66 ]; psychological well-being [ 67 ]); psychosocial adjustment [ 68 ]; and social connectedness [ 69 ] have all been reported.…”

The views of people living with chronic stroke and aphasia on their potential involvement as research partners: a thematic analysis

“…Participants with aphasia also stressed the necessity for constant third-party support, i.e., communication partners and engagement from various facilitators to manage verbal and written content within research consortiums. Communication partners are assigned to each individual with aphasia, and their goal is to facilitate the understanding and communicative access (not necessarily verbal) for PWA within the research team [41]. Since all participants with aphasia were actively engaged in aphasia communication support groups, they could anticipate the value of communication partners as part of the research team.…”