Outcomes of an interprofessional intensive comprehensive aphasia program's first five years

This ICAP program is a collaboration between an institute of health professions and a rehabilitation hospital. It was a 6-week intensive treatment program for people with post-stroke aphasia designed to maximize recovery and return to activities. This retrospective study investigated outcomes of this program offered annually from 2015 to 2019.

This is an analysis of existing data collected for other purposes. While conducting a therapeutic program for people with aphasia, data were not collected for the purpose of conducting research. The treatment components addressed the activity participation goals of 35 participants. Programming consisted of individual and group speech-language and occupational therapy, adaptive sports, swimming, music therapy, and a wellness mindfulness group.. Participants received a comprehensive evaluation and a treatment plan addressing their individual participation goals, delivered primarily by SLP and OT graduate students under faculty supervision. Pre- and post-treatment outcomes were measured within four WHO ICF domains: impairment, participation, environment, person. Each cohort consisted of seven or eight community-dwelling participants seen four days/week.

Significant post-treatment changes were observed on measures within the impairment domain and on self-perception measures of participation, functional communication, and communication confidence. Subsequent analyses found a subset of 15 responders (WAB Aphasia Quotient change of ≥5) drove most significant effects seen on performance-based impairment measures, but that patient-reported self-perception measures showed significant changes in both responders and non-responders.

Results support research indicating that short-term intensive, interprofessional comprehensive aphasia programs (ICAPs) are effective treatment options for people with moderate-to-severe aphasia.