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

Purpose: 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.

Method: 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.

Results: Group members and their loved ones alike indicated highly positive assessments of the format and value of the Aphasia Group of Middle Tennessee.

Conclusion: 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).

Supplemental Material S1. Aphasia-friendly article: A version of this research article designed to be accessible for individuals with aphasia and their loved ones.

Supplemental Material S2. A sample version of an aid to consent used to consent individuals with aphasia for the survey.

Supplemental Material S3. A sample of the slides used to conduct the survey for individuals with aphasia over Zoom.

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. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_PERSP-22-00006