Samtalsmatta som kommunikationsstöd i grupp för personer med afasi
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. Two interviews were made with the participants.The results showed no statistically significant differences in totalcommunication effectiveness between the two conversation types butindicate that Talking Mats can be helpful for individuals with severecommunication disabilities. Significantly shorter time was spent on eachquestion while using Talking Mats, yet the participants experienced that theywere able to say what they wanted to say to a greater extent. The majority ofthe participants found the method positive. More research is necessary inorder to generalize the results to the population with aphasia