A virtual yoga practice for people with aphasia (Bislick et al., 2023)

<p dir="ltr"><b>Purpose:</b> The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the feasibility of a virtual, adapted, aphasia-friendly yoga program for people with aphasia; (b) evaluate evidence of improvement in patient-reported outcomes and word retrieval; (c) explore the immediate impact of a yoga session on participant subjective emotional state; and (d) assess participant motivation and perceived benefits of participating in a yoga program.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Method: </b>This feasibility study employed a mixed-method design to document the feasibility of a virtual, 8-week adapted yoga program. A pre-/posttreatment design was used to assess patient-reported outcome measures for resilience, stress, sleep, and pain, as well as word-finding abilities. Semistructured interviews with participants were thematically analyzed to provide insight into participants’ motivation and perceptions regarding their experience.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Results: </b>Comparisons of pre- and postprogram group means suggest that participation in an 8-week adapted yoga program may positively impact perceptions of resilience (large effect), stress (medium effect), sleep disturbance (medium effect), and pain (small effect) for people with aphasia. Findings from within-session reports and brief, semistructured interviews with participants indicated positive outcomes and subjective experiences and suggest that people with aphasia are motivated to participate in yoga for a variety of reasons.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Conclusions: </b>This study is an important first step in confirming the feasibility of an adapted, aphasia-friendly yoga program offered via a remote platform for people with aphasia. The findings support recent work suggesting that yoga may be a potent adjunct to traditional rehabilitation efforts to improve resilience and psychosocial aspects in persons with aphasia.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S1.</b> Description of the aphasia-friendly yoga program.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S2.</b> Yoga teacher aphasia-friendly training.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S3.</b> Comparisons of group means and effect sizes pre- vs. post-yoga.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S4.</b> Y02 brief interview transcription.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S5.</b> Y03 brief interview transcription.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S6.</b> Y04 brief interview transcription.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S7.</b> Y05 brief interview transcription.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S8.</b> Y06 brief interview transcription.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S9.</b> Y07 brief interview transcription.</p><p dir="ltr"><b>Supplemental Material S10.</b> Y09 brief interview transcription.</p><p dir="ltr">Bislick, L., Dietz, A., Duncan, E. S., & Cornelius, K. (2023). The feasibility and benefits of a virtual yoga practice for stroke survivors with aphasia. <i>American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 32</i>(4), 1679–1688. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00269" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00269</a></p>