Home practice programs and aphasia (Donoso Brown et al., 2021)

Purpose: We aimed to describe the current practices of speech-language pathologists regarding the creation and implementation of home practice programs for persons with poststroke aphasia.

Method: Survey participants were American Speech-Language-Hearing Association–certified speech-language pathologists, had 30% of their caseload include persons with aphasia, and had recently created at least two home programs for persons with aphasia. Respondents completed a web-based survey on home program creation, training, technology, and methods for tracking adherence with closed and open-ended questions.

Results: We analyzed 80 complete surveys. Most of the participants (n = 56) created home programs for greater than 75% of their caseload. Common interventions in home programs addressed functional practice and spoken expression. Participants describe instructional techniques including building skill practice in daily routines and guided practice. Applications of technology and formal mechanisms to monitor adherence were less frequently reported. Various factors were identified as facilitators and barriers to home program creation with environmental support from others and client factors (i.e., motivation, impairments) most evident.

Conclusions: This study provides insight into speech-language pathologists’ home program creation and implementation. Results can be used to consider mechanisms to improve use of and adherence to home programs to further support recovery.

Supplemental Material S1. Copy of survey.

Supplemental Material S2. Example codebook for open-ended question on facilitators.

Supplemental Material S3. Example codebook for open-ended question on barriers.

Donoso Brown, E. V., Wallace, S. E., & Liu, Q. (2021). Speech-language pathologists’ practice patterns when designing home practice programs for persons with aphasia: A survey. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_AJSLP-20-00372