Effectiveness of functional communication therapy by volunteers for people with aphasia following stroke LINDA WORRALL 1 and E D W I N Y I U 2 1 Communication Disability in Ageing Research Unit, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University of Queensland, Australia 2 Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong (Received 20 December 1998; accepted 28 September 1999) Abstract The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a scripted modular intervention programme called Speaking Out. Speaking Out is administered by trained volun- teers in the home and focuses on the everyday communicative activities of aphasic stroke patients. The experimental design used repeated measures to examine the effect of counterbalanced treatments across individual subjects and across two matched groups. One group improved significantly on the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) after the Speaking Out programme but there were no significant differences on any of the functional communication measures. Some change to health status scales was however found. There was a significant difference on both the WAB and the ASHA Functional Assessment of Communication Skills (ASHA FACS) for the other group following the Speaking Out programme. They also demonstrated some positive changes on the health status scales following the programme. There were more significant differences on intragroup comparisons than intergroup comparisons. For group 2, the ASHA FACS and the SF-36 showed significant differences between the Speaking Out programme and the recreational programme or no treatment at all. It was concluded that long standing aphasic speakers may benefit from a 10 week functional communication therapy programme delivered by trained volunteers. Introduction A continuing problem in aphasia rehabilitation is the ability of speech pathologists to provide an effective and relevant on-going service to people with chronic aphasia. Limitations to resources within public health systems has led to many facilities focusing on services in the acute stage and the cost for privately funded services for long term aphasia rehabilitation is often too high for people with aphasia. People with long standing aphasia therefore have access to a limited range of professional speech pathology services. This study aimed to develop and evaluate an alternative intervention programme so that people with aphasia and their families may have better access to a range of services. This study evaluates a functional communication therapy programme delivered by trained volunteers in the aphasic person’s own home. The use of volunteers to provide a Address correspondence to: Linda Worrall, Communication Disability in Ageing Research Unit, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia Email: 1.worrall@mailbox.uq.edu.au Ó 2000 Psychology Press Ltd http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pp/02687038.html APHASIOLOGY, 2000, VOL. 14, NO. 9, 911±924