ERIC Number: EJ1449623
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Sep
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1368-2822
EISSN: EISSN-1460-6984
Community Responses to Persons with Aphasia Participating in Coactive Therapeutic Theatre: A Pilot Study
Hia Datta; Laura L. Wood; Susan Alimonti; Danielle Pugliese; Hannah Butkiewicz; Francesca Jannello; Breann Rissland; Kristen Tully
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, v59 n5 p1649-1671 2024
Background: Persons with aphasia (PWA) experience a number of communicative and social-emotional challenges. Reported experiences of PWA include but are not limited to, being misunderstood, isolated, frustrated, and infantilised. Aims: The aim of this pilot study, involving a Life Participation Approach to Aphasia (LPAA), conducted over the course of 2 years, was to understand community perceptions of aphasia while PWA engaged in an interprofessional treatment program involving speech and drama therapy. Methods & Procedures: The interprofessional treatment program involved PWA participating in a therapeutic theatre program using the CoActive Therapeutic Theater (CoATT) while also receiving speech-language therapy. Each year, the PWA performed a different, original therapeutic theatre production for a public audience, at the culmination of their interprofessional treatment program. In this paper, we share data obtained from perspectives of audience members who witnessed the theatre production and aphasia education during the first year of the study and friends and family of PWA who participated in the therapeutic theatre process during the second year of the study. Outcomes & Results: Responses from audience members who participated in aphasia education and witnessed the therapeutic theatre performance by the PWA during the first year, indicated an increased knowledge of aphasia. Friends and family members of PWA who witnessed their loved ones engaging in the CoATT process through interprofessional treatment, in the second year, reported that their loved ones benefited from the CoATT process, which was distinct from other therapeutic processes to their knowledge and that they were impacted by watching their loved one perform. Conclusions & Implications: These initial findings create footing towards understanding impact of therapeutic theatre in combination with speech-language therapy in the lives of PWA. They help us to obtain an initial appreciation of how therapeutic theatre and aphasia education help connect PWA and their community.
Descriptors: Aphasia, Attitudes toward Disabilities, Community Attitudes, Speech Therapy, Drama Workshops, Interprofessional Relationship, Outcomes of Treatment
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A