Game group therapy for people with aphasia
Open Access
- Author:
- Sampat, Mahika
- Area of Honors:
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Chaleece Sandberg (She/Her), Thesis Supervisor
Carol Anne Miller, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- aphasia
game
therapy
group
CAT
SAQOL-39 - Abstract:
- Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder that affects over one million people each year in the United States. This condition usually occurs post-stroke (Simmons-Mackie et al., 2010). Group therapy can improve communication skills for people with aphasia (Ribeiro et al., 2020) and game-based therapy has made people with aphasia feel seen and heard (Hymes et al., 2021). In another study, playing a team game can help to improve word production in post-stroke aphasia (Romani et al., 2018). Additionally, Kristinsson et al. (2022) conducted a narrative review about understanding predictors of successful therapy for people with aphasia. They found that personalizing aphasia therapy and getting feedback about therapy helped (2022). This study examines the feasibility and acceptability of a group game-based therapy, utilizing games developed by the Aphasia games for Health team (https://www.aphasiagamesforhealth.com/) (“Aphasia Games for Health,” 2020). Ten people with aphasia participated in the study in three phases: 1) pre-testing, 2) game-based therapy, and 3) post-testing. The feasibility and acceptability of the game-based therapy was recorded through feedback during the games, as well as feedback post-games in the form of a satisfaction questionnaire. Changes in pre-testing and post-testing scores, which included quality of life and language ability measures (the Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39 and the Comprehensive Aphasia Test, which are abbreviated as SAQOL-39 and CAT, respectively) were evaluated using two-sided, paired t-tests to see if there was an overall significant difference in scores due to therapy. There were no significant differences with the SAQOL-39, but there was a significant difference in one out of ten subtests for the CAT. Overall, game-based therapy was well-received by the participants and has the potential to be an effective form of therapy for future use by speech language pathologists.