Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI, can be used for analyzing brain activity in subjects performing language tasks. The purpose of this study was to develop Aphasia-friendly information adjusted to aphasic subjects participating in fMRI studies. The objectives were to investigate if adjusted information was important for the ability to perform language tasks and if the information could be used for different types of Aphasia.Sixteen aphasic subjects participated in the study, six of these underwent fMRI. The participants varied in grade and type of Aphasia. They had Swedish as their native language and were aged between 26 and 89, mean 57.

Our aim in this work has been to redesign ModernFamilies and make a user-friendly interface for people with Aphasia. The focus has been to identify general issues they might face while using different technology and applications, in order to find better alternative design for ModernFamilies, with a focus on usability. To approach this issue, we used a qualitative method. Our study includes several interviews and observations preformed in conjunction with the AGNES project (AGeing in a NEtworked Society) and speech therapists. Aphasia requires simple design that in the same time gives them support to understand and use technology and different applications.

The purpose of the present study was to translate Western AphasiaBattery ? Revised (WAB-R) to Swedish and test the translation on a group of nonlanguage-impaired individuals. The purpose was also to establish equivalencebetween WAB-R and its Swedish translation and to examine a possible correlationbetween test results and the background factors sex, age, educational length andfirst language. 67 subjects participated in the study. The results showed that femalesex, long education (?12 yrs) and being a native speaker of Swedish had significantpositive association to a higher test result.

With the growing amount of citizens with another mother tongue than Swedish, the need for assessment instruments in other languages than Swedish within the Swedish health care increases. To enable this, the knowledge of multilingualism and adequate assessments are required. The aim is to develop a modern Arabic version of a screening material that is comparable to what is used in the Swedish clinic in the assessment of people diagnosed with Aphasia. In the present study, Short Aphasia Examination (Kortfattad Afasiprövning), which is one of the few screening material is available in Swedish and among the ten most frequently used assessment materials (Blom Johansson, Carlsson & Sonnander, 2011). Translation and adaptation was made to the Standard Arabic (KAPARABISKA) and Arabic dialect of Hadari (KAPHADARI).

Stroke is a widespread disease in Sweden. Nurses play a central part for those who suffer from a stroke irrespective of where in the care chain they meet. To be able to meet the patients? need of care the nurse must understand his/her lifeworld. Each and every patient is unique and the experience of being struck by a stroke depends on personality and life situation.

Previous studies shows that high-intensity Aphasia interventiongives better results than intervention that is less intense. This study evaluateda working model at a hospital in Gothenburg which involve related personsin intervention. The model prescribes daily training in the home. The caseseries design study investigated the effect of intervention on auditorycomprehension, impact on participation and examined how the relatedperson judged that communication was affected. Four participants withsevere Aphasia received intervention for 16 weeks, 8 of which includedintensive training at home and at the clinic, while 8 weeks only includedclinical intervention.

There are several different methods of assessment of functional communication in individuals with Aphasia. However, these are not very established in Sweden. A number of assessment methods are not translated and adapted to Swedish. The views about what functional communication means are scattered. The purpose of this study was to, with the help of a questionnaire survey, identify how Swedish speech and language therapists assess functional communication, to what extent and what they want that an assessment method should contain to be clinically useful.The study involved 54 clinically active speech and language therapists in the area of Aphasia.

Background: Communication allows people to gain understanding of themselves and their surroundings, which is a prerequisite for good health. The nurse may in her communication help patients develop a feeling that they are not alone in their situation. If the patients cannot express themselves and make themselves understood, it can lead the patients to feel left out which emphasizes the suffering at having Aphasia. Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the components which affect nurse?s communication with patients with Aphasia.

Afasi medför en språklig och kommunikativ begränsning för personer med afasi vid samspel med andra individer. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka interaktion mellan personer med afasi, samt mellan afasigruppsledare och deltagare i en afasigrupp under behandlingssituationer. Tre afasigrupper, med sammanlagt elva afasigruppsdeltagare och fyra afasigruppsledare deltog i föreliggande studie. Datainsamling skedde via videoupptagning samt ljudinspelning. Det insamlade materialet transkriberades och analyserades enligt samtalsanalytiska principer.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of bilateral repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on language ability in eight participants with Aphasia. All participants underwent two periods of treatment and five periods of evaluation. During one treatment period high frequency stimulation was given to the left hemisphere and low frequency stimulation to the right and in one other period placebo stimulation was given. Boston Naming Test and Token Test were used to assess the effects of treatment on naming ability and language comprehension. Results showed that no significant effects were found on group level.

In speech and language intervention, the ability to interact is seldom evaluated; rather intervention is evaluated in terms of improved testresults.  If goal-setting in intervention also is based on everyday communicative needs, the relevance of the treatment may be increased and intervention outcome may be implemented in the patient?s natural environment.The present study, as part of a research-project, is based on analyses of interaction and interviews to examine everyday conversations and speech and language intervention. The aim was to explore if there is a relation between everyday communication needs and goal-setting in speech and language intervention for people with Aphasia. A further aim was to investigate if there are everyday communicative needs that may form goals for speech and language intervention.Two individuals with Aphasia and one individual with both dysarhtria and Aphasia participated in the study. Three speech and language pathologists and two relatives also participated in the study.

Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy (CIAT) är en gruppbehandling för personer med afasi. Tidigare forskning kring CIAT har ansetts otillräcklig gällande dess långsiktiga effekt, dess effekt vid lindrig afasi och dess effekt på kommunikativ delaktighet. Föreliggande studie är en multipel fallstudie som syftar till att undersöka CIAT:s kort- och långsiktiga effekt på språk och kommunikation vid lindrig afasi. Fyra personer med kronisk afasi deltog i CIAT under två veckor. Språkfunktioner och funktionell kommunikation bedömdes före behandling (T1), efter behandling (T2) och vid uppföljning efter 3 månader (T3). Bedömningarna kompletterades av intervjuer med deltagarna och deras närstående. Vid T2 visade samtliga behandlingsdeltagare övervägande förbättrade språkliga funktioner. Vidare skattade 4/4 deltagare och samtliga närstående en förbättring av funktionell kommunikation. Vid T3 var förbättringen övervägande stabil.

This pilot study describes a therapy method for persons withBroca´s Aphasia. This method is based on the mapping hypothesis (Schwartz,Saffran & Marin 1980). The mapping hypothesis is based on the assumptionthat agrammatism is caused by an inability to combine syntactic structurewith thematic roles. This study describes a combination of the therapymethod mentioned above and the Everyday life activities photo series (ELA,Stark 1992). The aim of the study was to investigate if therapy based on awritten sentence/picture format is a viable starting-point for future research.The therapy presented combined written sentences with pictures describingeveryday life activities.

In the present study, the institutional discourse in health care was examined, focusing onspeech therapists and occupational therapists in interaction with a common patient withAphasia. The purpose of the present study was to identify common communication strategiesused in the professional conversation between a speech therapist and a patient and between anoccupational therapist and the same patient. Specific research questions were: Whatcommunicative strategies are used in interaction between a speech therapist and a patient withAphasia and between the occupational therapist and the same patient? Are theredifferences/similarities between how speech therapists and occupational therapists interactwith patients with Aphasia?Six people in total, two patients in interaction with a speech therapist and an occupationaltherapist respectively, were recorded during treatment sessions of each profession. Generaland specific aspects of the institutional interaction were then analysed according to principlesof conversation analysis.Similarities in the use of closed questions as a strategy to increase the effectiveness ininteraction could be seen between the two different professions studied.

Bakgrund: Årligen drabbas 12000 individer av afasi i Sverige. Det är ett stort samhällsproblem. Sannolikheten att som sjuksköterska stöta på dessa individer är därmed stor. Sjuksköterskor är i behov av mer kunskap om de kommunikationsmöjligheter som finns för att kunna främja hälsa hos individer med afasi. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att belysa vilka möjligheter individer med afasi har till kommunikation.