Caregiver Education in the Context of Stroke Rehabilitation

Caregiver Education in the Context of Stroke Rehabilitation Health and Medical Sciences Aphasia is a language disorder that impacts speaking, listening, reading, and writing, caused by damage to the language centers of the brain. Caregivers of persons with aphasia suffer from psychosocial issues (e.g., sadness, depression, anger, confusion, loneliness, guilt, stress, anxiety, and isolation). Caregivers also experience financial burdens, physical, and lifestyle changes. To improve psychosocial well-being and quality of life, caregivers need education, counseling, support of family members and other caregivers during this unexpected life change. Holistic stroke rehabilitation programs such as intensive comprehensive aphasia programs (ICAPs) are beginning to include aspects of caregiver education and counseling. The purpose of this project is to investigate the impact that a weekly caregiver education group has on caregiver well-being and quality of life. Caregivers (n=8) participated in a one-hour weekly education group during the four-week summer 2016 ICAP at the University of Montana. The weekly caregiver education groups included the following four modules: (1) introductions and goal setting; (2) aphasia and neuroplasticity; (3) communication strategies for communicating with PWA; and (4) evidence-based resources, caregiver rights, and involving and educating family. Weekly probes assessed caregivers’ progress during the education group. Each Likert-scale probe consisted of 10 questions that caregivers answered using a rating scale as follows: 1-not useful at all, 2-somewhat useful, 3-moderately useful, 4-mostly useful, and 5-very useful. Caregivers were also given the opportunity to comment freely about ideas and feedback pertaining to the education group. These weekly probes will be quantitavely and qualitatively analyzed to determine the importance of the caregiver education group that occurred during the summer 2016 ICAP. Preliminary data suggests that education groups are beneficial to caregivers of persons with aphasia. Data from this study will be used to further develop caregiver education components of the UM ICAP