What really matters to people with aphasia when it comes to group work? A qualitative investigation of factors impacting participation and integration

Abstract

People with aphasia perceive community aphasia-group participation to be beneficial to their ability to live well with aphasia. However, a range of challenges to successful participation are also evident. Inputs such as peer-to-peer communication strategies, shared roles and responsibilities, and consultation with regard to group objectives and processes provide group members with the opportunity to become active contributors, demonstrate competence and have influence over the group. When inputs are poorly implemented or absent, people with aphasia are at risk of feeling disabled and marginalized by the group experience.

The practice of the art of clowning by a person with aphasia: a case report

“…Participation in groups alleviates the effects of these factors and improve the quality of life of Brazilian stroke survivors 5 . These findings corroborate the research that suggests that therapy should be focused on daily life changes related to communication and the well-being of the person with aphasia as the frequency of social contact of people with aphasia is related to their quality of life 6,7 .…”

Game Technologies to Assist Learning of Communication Skills in Dialogic Settings for Persons with Aphasia

“…Behaviours found to have negative impact included asking plenty of recycled questions (that is, approximately, repeated questions without connection to previous participants' contributions), a lot of closed questions with predetermined answer alternatives, test questions (following the IRE pattern) that signal power asymmetry, and exposing errors of the participants [37]. In line with several of these results, Lanyon, Worrall, and Rose [36] found that persons with aphasia themselves underlined the importance of promoting non-hierarchical interactions and equal opportunities for participation in conversation groups, where the "democratic feel" (p. 528) of the conversation is present and the responsibilities for the group process are distributed among the participants. The authors also emphasize the importance of whole-group usage of multimodal resources in order to normalize non-verbal communication [36].…”

“…There is, however, a strand of research focusing on the effects of socially oriented and community-based conversation groups (hereafter "conversation groups") for persons with aphasiaenvironments that share some characteristics with philosophical dialoguesand the results are promising. According to researchers in the field [36,37], the value for persons with aphasia of participating in conversation groups is widely recognized. Previous studies support positive impact on communication skills for persons with aphasia that participate in conversation groups [36,37].…”

“…According to researchers in the field [36,37], the value for persons with aphasia of participating in conversation groups is widely recognized. Previous studies support positive impact on communication skills for persons with aphasia that participate in conversation groups [36,37].…”

“…However, according to Lanyon, Worrall, and Rose [36, p. 526], "[m]ultiperson interactions are inherently complex for people with aphasia" and unsuccessful conversation groups can produce negative experiences, such as disconnectedness, stress, frustration, and perceived marginalization [36]. According to Lanyon, Worrall, and Rose [36], persons with aphasia strive to become active contributors but wish for varying levels of support in order to express thoughts and opinions, participate meaningfully, and demonstrate competence. Lee and Azios [37] studied the impact of different facilitator behaviours on the active participation of persons with aphasia.…”