The first 3-months post-stroke: What facilitates successfully living with aphasia?

Abstract

This study used a qualitative approach to describe the experience of the first 3 months post-stroke in order to identify factors which facilitate successfully living with aphasia. Fifteen participants completed semi-structured interviews and self-perceived ratings of how successfully he or she was living with aphasia. A number of themes were identified from the interviews, including: a need to do things in order to be actively engaged in rehabilitation; increase independence and have a purpose in life; the importance of social support; the value of rehabilitation; a need to adapt and make adjustments; and having a positive outlook. These results suggest that a range of service delivery models need to be considered during the early stages post-stroke in order to address individual needs and so that long-term outcomes of people with aphasia may be improved.

Keywords::

• Aphasia
• living successfully
• quality of life
• insider's perspective
• qualitative research.

Acknowledgements

The investigators would like to kindly thank the people with aphasia who took their time to complete this study and share their experiences. The investigators would also like to acknowledge and thank the hospitals and clinicians involved in the recruitment of participants for the study. Brooke Grohn was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award. A NHMRC Project Grant (#631464) and Speech Pathology Australia Post Graduate Research Grant also supported the completion of this research.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.