Participants' perceptions of an aphasia-friendly occupational therapy home program

Upper extremity impairments post-stroke impact participation in valued occupations. Home programs are used to extend the frequency and amount of upper extremity practice for people post-stroke, but novel ways of increasing adherence to these programs is needed to ensure intense repetitive practice.

The purpose of this process evaluation, was to examine the perceptions of people with aphasia as it relates to modifications to home programs that could influence participation, specifically listening to music and aphasia-friendly adaptations of written materials.

Seven people with chronic aphasia completed an upper extremity home program that included the use of music and aphasia-friendly modified materials (ClinicalTrials.gov ID:2016/06/18). After the home program, participants completed semi-structured interviews to understand their perceptions of the program and the modifications.

Five themes were identified including (1) music, (2) activities, (3) instructions, (4) logistics, and (5) progress. Most participants perceived music as helpful, but a few reported it being distracting. Participants found the variety of activities helpful as well as specific characteristics of the instructions such as photographs and images. Some participants expressed elements of the home program to be barriers to practice such as using the activity monitors and logbook, which required assistance at times. Finally, participants noted their own progress resulting from the program and liked that they could adjust the intensity of the program as they progressed.

Overall participants in this study with aphasia perceived the modifications to home programs including aphasia friendly written instructions and music to facilitate successful home practice.