Melhoria da comunicação entre a pessoa com afasia e o seu parceiro privilegiado de comunicação

: análise dos efeitos de um programa de formação

Abstract

Conversation is an important social activity for humans. The research made in the field of aphasia has allowed to characterize the changes in conversation after the onset of aphasia. Turn-taking and repair are two elements of conversation, which acquire different characteristics in the presence of aphasia, requiring increased efforts of collaboration between the interlocutors. For people with aphasia the participation in the conversation decreases, so it is important to develop communication strategies appropriate to their specific characteristics and to the conversations with their communication partners. The training focused at partners is part of the Social Model of intervention. The Conversational Analysis uses conversational samples recorded in natural context has been used as a guide for this type of intervention focused on the interaction and the communication partners. With this case study it is intended to verify if there are improvements in the conversation of a couple, whose husband has aphasia, after training the wife (communication partner), with a greater focus on turn-taking and repairing strategies. Another objective is to verify whether these improvements are maintained two months after the intervention. For such evaluation we used the Conversation Analysis Profile for People With Aphasia (Whitworth, Perkins & Lesser, 1997), which allowed planning the intervention. This intervention lasted a total of 9 sessions (22 hours). Evaluation was repeated after two months. The results suggest that the training undertaken with his wife, in order to improve their communicative behaviors and attitudes, had a very positive impact on the quality of the conversation with their husband with aphasia.

Date of Award	7 Feb 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Emília Santos (Supervisor) & Maria Assunção Matos (Co-Supervisor)