Feasibility study of a self-management intervention for aphasia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Feasibility study of a supported self-management intervention for stroke survivors with aphasia (StarStep study)
IRAS ID
291314
Contact name
Faye Wray
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN10401966
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Aphasia is a common and debilitating condition which may affect stroke survivors' ability to speak, understand what other people say, read or write. Aphasia often has a substantial impact on daily life.
We have developed a one-to-one support programme known as a 'self-management intervention' to help stroke survivors and their families to develop confidence and strategies to cope with the impact of stroke and aphasia. In this study, we will look at how feasible it is to deliver the intervention in two community based speech and language therapy services. Speech and language therapists (SLTs) will integrate the support programme in to their usual practice. We will recruit 30 stroke survivors with aphasia (and/or family members/friends) and 10-15 SLTs to participate in data collection for the study.
We will collect data in four main ways:
1.Implementation groups- we will meet regularly with SLTs to see if there are any difficulties with using the intervention.
2.Outcome assessment- we will ask stroke survivors with aphasia (and/or family members/friends) to fill out questionnaires about their health and wellbeing to see if we can measure if the support programme works.
3.Semi-structured interviews- participants (stroke survivors with aphasia, their families/friends) and those facilitating the approach (SLTs) will be interviewed by a researcher to see if they like the programme and whether there were any unforeseen problems.
4.Observations- we will observe therapy sessions between stroke survivors with aphasia (and/or family members/friends) and SLTs to see if the intervention is being delivered as it was intended.We will not compare the group who receive the intervention to a group who did not (control group) in this feasibility work. We hope that this work will inform a future larger scale trial of the support programme; to understand whether or not it is helpful for stroke survivors with aphasia and their families.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/EE/0115
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jun 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion