Preliminary Findings from a Collaborative Storytelling Program on Life Participation and Communication among Persons with Aphasia

ABSTRACT

Aims

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcomes of a remotely delivered collaborative storytelling program based on the Timeslips^TM approach in persons with aphasia (PWA). The program aims to improve social interaction, communication, and participation through a guided experience.

Methods

Six PWA of mild-moderate severity and of fluent and nonfluent types participated in the program twice a week for seven weeks. They collaboratively created 28 free-form stories from staged pictures. PWA were tested pre- and post-treatment on several validated outcome measures representing each of the Living with Aphasia: Framework for Outcome Measurement (A-FROM) domains. PWA self-rated on group therapeutic factors and program satisfaction scales. To assess the benefits of the program, the results were analysed for clinical significance (reliable change index) and meaningfulness for each of the outcome measures.

Results

Comparison between pre- and post-test scores yielded clinical significance among all participants on at least one A-FROM domain and most participants improved on communication confidence, functional communication, and overall language abilities. All participants’ ratings of perceived group therapeutic factors and satisfaction with the program were high.

Conclusions

The findings provide preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of a collaborative storytelling program for PWA. Such a program may have an important place in aphasia rehabilitation in improving psychosocial and communication deficits through engagement in creative arts. Large-scale studies with rigorous mixed-methods designs are needed to build on the present findings.

KEY WORDS:

• group therapy
• reliable change index
• TimeSlips^TM
• functional communication
• life participation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank speech-language pathologist, Jacqueline Alvarado and graduate student clinician, Gabriella Trevino for their contributions to this project, and the participants and their family members for their time and effort. We are very grateful to Neila J. Donovan for her helpful comments on this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Supplementary Materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2022.2127086.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this paper was partly funded by the Emerging Scholars Initiative from New Mexico State University to the first author.