AN ATTITUDINAL STUDY OF SPOUSES OF PERSONS WITH APHASIA

The purpose of this investigation was to describe the attitudes of individuals who were spouses of patients with aphasia. Using modified Q-methodology, 15 spouses of fluent aphasic patients, 15 spouses of nonfluent aphasic patients and 30 matched controls completed a 70-item Q-sort constructed specifically for this study. The spouses of nonfluent aphasic patients were found to have a greater number of negative attitudes toward their spouses than were the spouses of fluent aphasic patients. The spouses of patients in both aphasia groups were found to have a greater number of negative attitudes toward their spouses than the matched controls. In addition, six factors (Compliance, Desirability, Egocentricity, Independence, Maturity, and Sociability) representative of the spouse-patient relationship were identified that incorporated the most commonly held attitudes by the spouses of patients in both aphasia groups