Assesing quality of life of individuals with aphasia and determining predictors of quality of life

Aphasia is an acquired language impairment resulting from a focal brain lesion in the absence of other cognitive, motor or sensory impairments (Lapointe, 2004; Papathanasiou, Coppens, Potagas, 2012). Changes in quality of life are observed after acquired aphasia following stroke. Intervention and provision in aphasia become more effective by examining and understanding these changes. Although there are numerous studies which focus on QOL in some other countries, there is no study in Turkey which examine QOL and determining predictors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine QOL of Turkish people with aphasia and to analyze the factors which affect QOL. Afazi Dil Değerlendirme Testi (ADD), Short Form-36, and Beck Depression Scale and SAQOL-39-TR were administered to a group of 50 post stroke participants taking therapy and treatment in Anadolu University Education, Research & Training Centre for Speech and Language Pathology (DİLKOM) and EskiĢehirOsmangazi University Physical Therapy Department. By analyzing data, performances of people with aphasia in four domains of SAQOL-39-TR were determined and the relation between factors of age, gender, stroke onset, reading habits, inhabitant number at home, physical and socialfacilities, absence of care taker and QOL were investigated