Perspectives: Friends who stayed after aphasia (Archer et al., 2024)

Purpose: Aphasia may decrease the capacity to develop and maintain friendships. The aim of this study was to better understand the perspectives of people with aphasia on why some friendship bonds remain strong and some do not. Furthermore, we wanted to explore how age and aphasia severity shape views on friendship.Method: We interviewed 27 people with aphasia about their experiences of friendship before and after the onset of aphasia. We then used framework analysis and reflexive thematic analysis to interpret the interview data.Results: From the interviews, we created four major themes concerning how friend relationships had been impacted by aphasia: (a) Not all bonds have the same chance of surviving the onset of aphasia; (b) people with aphasia’s closest friends took active steps to keep relationships strong; (c) if friends knew some basic information about aphasia, bonds would stay stronger; (d) positive affective aspects of friendship play an important role in keeping bonds strong. We also noted differences in friendship experiences that appeared to be influenced by age and aphasia severity of participants.Conclusions: Interview data provided actionable ideas including focusing on friends who are likely to be responsive to help with maintaining the friendship, providing them with strategies to keep the friendship active and communication meaningful, and acknowledging the positive impact that this will have on the friend recovering from aphasia. More research is needed to develop programs that empower people with aphasia to maintain their friendships.Supplemental Material S1. Number of participants within each category of sampling dimensions (age, aphasia severity, cis man/woman).Archer, B., Azios, J. H., Douglas, N. F., Strong, K. A., Worrall, L., & Simmons-Mackie, N. (2024). “I could not talk . . . she did everything . . . she’s now my sister”: People with aphasia’s perspectives on friends who stuck around. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 33(1), 349–368. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00205

目的：失语症可能降低个体发展及维持友谊的能力。本研究的目的是更深入地理解失语症患者对于为何某些友谊纽带得以保持稳固而某些则未能的见解。此外，我们希冀探究年龄和失语症严重程度如何塑造对友谊的看法。方法：我们对27位失语症患者进行了访谈，了解他们在失语症发生前后的友谊经历。随后，我们运用框架分析和反思性主题分析来解读访谈数据。结果：从访谈中，我们提炼出四个主要主题，涉及失语症如何影响友谊关系：（a）并非所有纽带在失语症发生时均有同等机会存活；（b）失语症患者的至亲好友采取了积极措施以维系关系的稳固；（c）若友人了解有关失语症的基本信息，则纽带将更为牢固；（d）友谊的积极情感方面在维系纽带中扮演着重要角色。我们还注意到，受试者的年龄和失语症严重程度似乎影响了他们的友谊经历。结论：访谈数据提供了可行的见解，包括关注可能对维持友谊提供帮助的友人，向他们提供保持友谊活跃及沟通有意义的策略，并认可这将对于从失语症中恢复的朋友产生的积极影响。为进一步开发赋权失语症患者维持友谊的项目，需要更多的研究。补充材料S1：各采样维度（年龄、失语症严重程度、跨性别男性/女性）内的受试者数量。Archer, B., Azios, J. H., Douglas, N. F., Strong, K. A., Worrall, L., & Simmons-Mackie, N. (2024). “我无法说话……她做了一切……她现在是我的妹妹”：失语症患者对那些留在他/她身边的人士的见解。美国言语-语言病理学杂志，33(1)，349–368. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00205