Every year, 12,000 people in Sweden are diagnosed with aphasia. Many people with aphasia supplement their logopedic treatment by participating in an aphasia group. Aphasia groups provide both social and linguistic stimulation. The aim of the present thesis was to study the social interaction between participants, and between participants and leaders in aphasia groups.In the present study, eleven persons with aphasia and four leaders participated divided into three aphasia groups. The groups were video recorded during sessions with a total of four sessions.

The aims were to investigate the public awareness of aphasia in a Swedish sample and examine if knowledge of aphasia relates to gender, education or age. Participant?s sources of knowledge of aphasia were examined. A total of 153 individuals, aged 18-90, were surveyed. Participants were categorized into three groups; heard of, knowledge of and not heard of aphasia.

The purpose of the study was to examine how TalkingMats® canbe used to support communication in a group of people with aphasia. Fourpeople with aphasia and their group leader participated. Comparison wasmade between group discussion with and without Talking Mats. Theparticipants used one Talking Mat each. The group discussions werevideotaped and analysed.

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.

A historical study of intervention for aphasia may provide information on how speech and language pathologists work with people with aphasia. Aphasia is seen as an umbrella term for symptoms of language disorders caused by aquired brain injury. The overall aim of the present study was to describe and analyze the development of intervention for aphasia during the periods 1990-1999 and 2000-2010.The study was conducted by analysis of 83 medical records from two hospitals in Sweden during a period of 20 years. These decades were compared to each other and yo current litteraturein search for differences and trends in aphasia intervention.The Results of the present study revealed that intervention mainly focused on recovering the linguistic ability in both the 1990s and 2000s. Intervention and literature focusing on communication seem to increase during the 2000s.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Komm-A, a model for usingcommunication books in clinical practice for people with aphasia. The studyconsisted of two group studies and one case study. One of the group studies had apretest-posttest design and consisted of nine couples; a person with aphasia andhis/her communication partner. The material used was Quality of communicationlife scale (QCL), Communicative effectiveness index (CETI), Goal attainmentscaling (GAS), and a questionnaire to the communication partner. The other groupstudy consisted of seven speech-language pathologists who worked with thecouples according to the Komm-A model.

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.

Background: The speech- and language deficit aphasia affects 12 000 persons annually in Sweden. Aphasia is caused by injury in the brain and the most common etiology is stroke. According to the tool for describing and assessing aphasia, A-FROM (Kagan et al., 2008), the four following aspects of aphasia need to be considered: severity of aphasia, participation in life situations, communication and language environment and personal factors. Several different interventions and treatments can be performed in every domain. There is scientific evidence for interventions performed by speech and language pathologists; however, the question is yet being discussed since results are unambiguous.Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate which aphasia interventions performed by speech and language pathologists that are supported by evidence.

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.

New tools for the assessment of aphasia are important for bothclinical work and research. To see how they relate to already existing testscan increase their usefulness. Western Aphasia Battery ? Revised was translatedto Swedish and compared with the Swedish aphasia test A-ning, partlyto compare content and partly to see how sixteen people aged between 22and 92 with aphasia performed on the tests. The subtests did not correspondcompletely and the type of items included varied a lot.

Bipolar disorder is a chronic affective disorder, characterized by episodes of mania and depression. Previous studies have shown beneficial results for CBT in conjunction with pharmacotherapy over pharmacological treatment alone. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a CBT treatment in group for patients with bipolar disorder, run by Norrlands universitetssjukhus. The treatment group consisted of pharmacologically stabilized patients (n=12) who received group CBT. They were compared to a control group (n=5) who received pharmacological treatment only.

Around 30,000 people in Sweden suffer stroke every year, out of which about 12,000 end up with language difficulties, aphasia. Behind every person with aphasia there are significant others whose lives are also affected. Studies of how aphasia affects the health of these people are few. The overall aim of the present study was to examine how significant others of people with aphasia perceive their life situation, and how their quality of life is affected by the illness of their partner. Spouses of people with aphasia were contacted through aphasia groups and the Swedish Aphasia Association.

Aphasia is a disease that brings on disability. The purpose of the study is to describe the daily life when afflicted with aphasia and gain a deeper understanding of persons with aphasia in working ages. The study was made with a qualitative approach with a combination of data sources; literature, internet lectures, live lectures, interviews with personnel in medical and educational services and three persons with aphasia. More research in aphasiology is welcome. This may be aimed at developing knowledge about the importance of communication, of active participation in the social environment, and the achievement of improved attitudes towards people with disabilities. The study should give rehabilitation actors and close relations knowledge and support in their action when they meet people with aphasia..

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.

There are several treatment methods that are used by physiotherapists to treat migraine and tension type-headache (TTH). The effects of these methods have been evaluated in previous studies. However, there are few studies evaluating headache patients own perception of the treatment. The purpose of this study was both to examine the patient?s perception of the physiotherapy headache treatment and to examine if the treatment had effect on their quality of life.