"Psychosocial impact of aphasia: a study on sixteen aphasics"

Abstract

This thesis project investigates the experience of aphasics in relation to different aspects of their everyday life: the interaction with doctors, the speech therapy, the participation to a self-help group, the relation with family and friends, the changes experienced in the professional life and in the use of leisure time. Furthermore this study analyzes the divergences of perspectives between people with aphasia and their relatives and/or caregivers about relevant factors in the life after stroke. These data were collected through the administration of an interview to sixteen persons with aphasia in the chronic stage and a questionnaire for their relatives. The thesis presents different approaches to aphasia rehabilitation and in particular pragmatic and social approaches, which are based on the social and personal consequences of aphasia with a particular attention on the perspectives of persons with aphasia and on adaptations rather than impairments. Social approaches are considered more efficient in order to improve the quality of life of persons with aphasia. Moreover the thesis discusses the importance of communication in our life, the role of the caregiver and the change in the social life participation of people with aphasia with reference to the preexistent literature. From the data emerged that the loss of language affected all the aspects of aphasics' life situation and as a consequence persons with aphasia expressed the need for rebuilding their identity and bridging the gap between their past and present life, a process that may be faced only with the support of specialists.