Construction of Structured Arabic Aphasia Caregiver Guide and Studying its Effectiveness in Improving Caregivers’ Awareness and Communication with their Aphasic Patients

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study is the development of a structured Arabic Aphasia Caregiver Guide to investigate how this guide would be effective in improving caregivers' communication with their aphasic patients. Patients and Methods: Arabic Aphasia Caregiver Guide booklet was constructed and 10-expert phoniatricains evaluated it. Sixty patients with aphasia were enrolled in this study, they were divided into two groups, group I (cases group) and group II (control group), with 30 patients in each. Both groups were evaluated by the Arabic version of the Comprehensive Aphasia test twice, pre-therapy and three months after with the application of the conventional language therapy sessions in between (2 sessions/week/3m). Caregivers of patients in group I received sessions to educate them on the Arabic aphasic caregiver's guide booklet. Caregivers of group I were asked to answer the aphasia caregiver questionnaire before and after the family education sessions (1 session/week for about six weeks). Results: The aphasia caregiver questionnaire reported improvement in the caregiver's awareness regards aphasia and communication with their aphasic patients. The Arabic version of the Comprehensive Aphasia test reported improvement in language modalities among the participating patients, with statistical significance improvement results of subtests of repetition, naming, and reading in group I compared to group II. Conclusion: Targeting caregivers of aphasic patients with the Arabic Aphasia Caregiver Guide booklet helps in improving caregivers' communication with their aphasic patients.