Designing a community aphasia group (Levy et al., 2022)

<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Community aphasia groups serve an important purpose in enhancing the quality of life and psychosocial well-being of individuals with chronic aphasia. Here, we describe the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee, a community aphasia group with a 17-year (and continuing) history, housed within Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.</p> <p><strong>Method: </strong>We describe in detail the history, philosophy, design, curriculum, and facilitation model of this group. We also present both quantitative and qualitative outcomes from group members and their loved ones.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>Group members and their loved ones alike indicated highly positive assessments of the format and value of the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong> By characterizing in detail the successful Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee, we hope this can serve as a model for clinicians interested in starting their own community aphasia groups, in addition to reaching individuals living with chronic aphasia and their loved ones through the accessible and aphasia-friendly materials provided with this clinical focus article (see Supplemental Material S1).</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S1. </strong>Aphasia-friendly article: A version of this research article designed to be accessible for individuals with aphasia and their loved ones.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S2.</strong> A sample version of an aid to consent used to consent individuals with aphasia for the survey.</p> <p><br></p> <p><strong>Supplemental Material S3.</strong> A sample of the slides used to conduct the survey for individuals with aphasia over Zoom.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Levy, D. F., Kasdan, A. V., Bryan, K. M., Wilson, S. M., de Riesthal, M., & Herrington, D. P. (2022). Designing and implementing a community aphasia group: An illustrative case study of the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee. <em>Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups</em>. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_PERSP-22-00006</p>