According to Karianne Berg‘s PhD thesis, professionals in rehabilitation should empasize client participation by asking persons with stroke-induced aphasia how they prefer to participate at different stages of rehabilitation.

MAIN RESULTS:

1. Speech pathologists should place greater emphasis on client participation in rehabilitation of persons with severe stroke-induced aphasia.
2. All persons with stroke-induced aphasia should be asked about their goals for rehabilitation several times during the rehabilitation process.
3. The main barrier to client participation is a perceived need by speech-language pathologists to guide the clients through the rehabilitation process.

THESIS DEFENCE:

Thesis: Collaboration in aphasia rehabilitation: The perspective of speech-language pathologists and persons with stroke-induced aphasia
Candidate: Karianne Berg
Time: February 8, 2018 at 12:15
Place: Medical Technical Research Centre, St. Olavs Hospital: Auditorium MTA
Link to university website (in Norwegian)

SUMMARY:

(1) Speech pathologists percieve client-oriented client participation the gold standard in rehabilitation from stroke-induced aphasia. Berg interviewed 20 speech pathologists in four focus groups, and concludes that there is a need for greater emphasis on how to involve people with severe aphasia in goal setting and treatment planning.

(2) People with stroke-induced aphasia are generally pleased with the language rehabilitation, but the framework for rehabilitation is considered too vague. Therapists should spend more time on collaboration with people with stroke-induced aphasia, and incorporate existing tools and techniques to promote collaborative goal setting. 15 patients were interviewed in this study.

(3) Speech-language pathologists feel that they need to guide clients with severe stroke-induced aphasia through the rehabilitation process, and consider this the main barrier to achieve client-oriented participation. This study includes interviews with eleven speech-language therapists.

REFERENCES:

(1) Berg, K., Rise, M. B., Balandin, S., Armstrong, E., & Askim, T. (2016). Speech pathologists’ experience of involving people with stroke-induced aphasia in clinical decision making during rehabilitation. Disability and rehabilitation, 38(9), 870-878.

(2) Berg, K., Askim, T., Balandin, S., Armstrong, E., & Rise, M. B. (2017). Experiences of participation in goal setting for people with stroke-induced aphasia in Norway. A qualitative study. Disability and rehabilitation, 39(11), 1122-1130.

(3) Berg, K., Askim, T., & Rise, M. B. (2017). What do speech–language pathologists describe as most important when trying to achieve client participation during aphasia rehabilitation? A qualitative focus group interview study. International journal of speech-language pathology, 1-11.