The development of conversational partner training and support program in aphasia and investigation of its effectiveness

Conversational Partner Training and Support Program in Aphasia (ASODEP) was developed in the study; It is aimed to examine the effects of the program on aphasic patients and their conversational partners and to get the opinions of the conversational partners about the program. The first stage of the study, which was designed using a multi-stage design, which is one of the mixed research methods, is the needs analysis carried out within the framework of the Taba-Tyler curriculum development model. A phenomenological study was carried out to identify needs. In this context, face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 conversational partners determined using the criterion sampling method. ASODEP was developed based on the needs determined in the analysis of the interview data. In the second phase of the study, ASODEP was applied to 8 conversational partners face-to-face and as a group, and its effectiveness was evaluated. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, a single group pre-test-post-test research design, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. As a result of the data analysis, it was found that ASODEP was effective on the knowledge level of the conversational partners, psychosocial well-being, quality of life and quality of life of the patients with aphasia. The data obtained from individual interviews support these results. Results of the study showed that ASODEP, which was developed based on the needs of the chat partners, was effective in meeting these needs and that the chat partners were satisfied with the program.