Speech and Language Therapists' delivery of psychosocial therapy

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  How do Speech and Language Therapists experience delivering psychosocial therapy and support to people with post-stroke aphasia?

• IRAS ID

  183566

• Contact name

  Sarah Northcott

• Contact email

  S.A.J.Northcott@city.ac.uk

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 2 months, 14 days

• Research summary

  Title
  How do Speech and Language Therapists experience delivering psychosocial therapy and support to people with post-stroke aphasia?

  Background and Aims
  Every year 110,000 people will have a stroke in England, of whom 30% will have aphasia. Aphasia is a language disorder, which can affect speaking, understanding, reading or writing. For about 15% of stroke survivors, aphasia will persist as a long-term condition. People who have aphasia are at risk of becoming socially isolated and depressed.

  Current best practice guidelines suggest that Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) should address the ‘emotional health’ of people with aphasia, and consider ways to support them to participate in their local communities. Little is currently known about how UK SLTs achieve this. We would like to carry out a project to address the following aims:

  [1] explore current practice of NHS SLTs in delivering psychological and social therapy and support to people with aphasia
  [2] examine SLTs’ experiences of working collaboratively with other mental health professionals, such as mental health nurses and psychologists
  [3] explore what kind of research into psychosocial therapy would be most valued by SLTs

  Method
  To achieve these aims we will conduct approximately four focus groups, each group comprising 3-8 SLTs. We will recruit participants via NHS SLT teams who work with people with aphasia. Each focus group will last around 90 minutes. All SLTs who take part will give informed consent. The focus group data will be analysed using a qualitative analytic system called Framework Analysis.

  Expected outcomes: Findings will illuminate the barriers and facilitators to SLTs delivering effective psychological therapy and support to people with aphasia and may provide insight into how to improve psychosocial care for this client group. Findings may also inform the design of future research, ensuring its relevance and accessibility to practising SLTs.

• REC name

  N/A

• REC reference

  N/A