“It’s not often that people want to hear me talk about my life”: Storytelling experiences of people with aphasia in an interdisciplinary songwriting project

Abstract

Purpose

Storytelling is an integral part of human life, providing opportunities for social closeness, relationship development, and identity exploration. Having aphasia can disrupt the ability to convey stories across a variety of settings. Structured songwriting frameworks may provide people with aphasia an opportunity to successfully engage in this medium for storytelling.

Method

Three individuals with aphasia participated in a structured songwriting intervention modified to support individuals with aphasia. Each participant-songwriter co-constructed three songs about their life in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team. Data about the songwriting process were collected via individual semi-structured qualitative interview and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify superordinate themes and subthemes.

Result

The overarching superordinate theme related to the process itself as a catalyst that occurred as a result of participating in a songwriting intervention modified for individuals with aphasia. Three subthemes were identified: (a) relationship-centred experience, (b) engagement in meaningful activities, and (c) identity exploration.

Conclusion

Songwriting may provide meaningful opportunities for people with aphasia to experience the power of sharing stories about themselves. Key components of this experience aligned with the core elements of the positive psychology PERMA (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishments) framework. Findings support incorporating storytelling through songwriting into the rehabilitation journey for individuals with aphasia.

Keywords:

• aphasia
• qualitative
• stroke
• storytelling
• interdisciplinary
• identity

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the songwriters with aphasia who partnered in this project. Additionally, they sing praise to the songwriting team members: Marissa Peak, Music Therapist; and Abby McConnon and Jenna Randolph, Speech Language Pathology Graduate Students. Special note of acknowledgment to Michigan State University Community School of Music for partnering with this project. Thank you to the Strong Story Lab Team Members for transcription work. Finally, we wish to thank Nicki Nelson for her mentorship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly so, due to the sensitive nature of the research, supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

Central Michigan University Faculty Research and Creative Endeavours Grant.