The Aphasia Partnership Training programme (APT), a research project funded by an NIHR Programme Development Grant, will be jointly led by Professor Rebecca Palmer (pictured above) from the University of Sheffield and Professor Madeline Cruice from City St George’s, University of London.
Hosted by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, this major project plans to co-design and evaluate a novel Communication Partner Training programme for people with aphasia and their communication partners. The Sheffield CTRU will lead a randomised controlled trial in approximately 30 NHS speech and language therapy services.
Background
Approximately 40% of stroke survivors have the communication disorder ‘aphasia’ making it difficult to talk, understand what others say, read, and write. People with aphasia and their communication partners (family, friends, paid carers) cannot understand and support each other, leading to communication breakdown, frustration, distress, isolation and unhappiness for both people. Communication Partner Training aims to improve communication between individuals with aphasia and their communication partners. Several small studies suggest that this can help, although we need better evidence to confirm its effectiveness. Additionally, it has not been described in enough detail for speech and language therapists to provide it. Existing research and patient group discussions highlight that not many NHS patients and partners are offered this training.
Research aims
Develop a new Communication Partner Training programme and manual for NHS delivery to people with aphasia and their communication partners living in the community, in a programme called Aphasia Partnership Training (APT)
Evaluate APT and its value for money
Understand and develop resources to support the UK-wide NHS delivery of APT
Design and methods:
Survey speech and language therapists nationally to understand what affects the NHS provision of Communication Partner Training.
Design collaboratively a manual and learning package detailing how to deliver APT.
Run a randomised clinical trial on APT with approximately 30 UK NHS Trusts that will randomly allocate 336 people with aphasia and their partners to receive APT and usual speech and language therapy, or usual therapy alone, to determine whether APT benefits people and is financially viable.
After treating the first 50 people with aphasia and their partners, to decide whether to continue with the full trial. As an adaptive trial, there may be some minor adjustments to the manual or learning package if findings from the first 50 pairs indicate that these changes would be useful.
Patient and public involvement:
A PPI group of 10 diverse individuals with aphasia and communication partners worked closely with the study team throughout a Programme Development Grant awarded in 2021, and were involved with preparing the Research Programme Grant application. The group will continue to provide support and guidance to the study team on all aspects of the research.