Ten-year follow-up of young aphasic participants in a 34-week course at a Folk High School

Abstract

An altered social life, dependency, loneliness and even a progressive social and psychological deterioration have been reported in aphasic stroke victims. In an attempt to improve rehabilitation for aphasic people and their relatives we presented in 1987 the effects of a structured 1-week course located at a ‘Folk High School’. As a development of this short course a 34-week educational programme for young aphasics was designed. Results from this course were presented in 1987. We now present results from a 10-year follow-up. Eight young aphasic people, less than 50 years of age, participated in the course. The participants were assessed on three occasions. Standardized neurological examination, aphasia examination, verbal performance rating, short-term memory and quality-of-life examination were performed. The participants improved in verbal performance as well as in aphasiological status from the beginning of the course to the end of the course. This improvement was diminished at follow-up 10 years later. All participants who completed the 34-week course showed an improvement in their aphasiological status immediately after the course. At follow-up 10 years later, all participants except one showed a more severe aphasia than at the end of the course. It is especially remarkable that in several cases the total percentile scores for auditory comprehension and/or repetition (of words and phrases) were lower than even at the beginning of the course. Concerning quality of life the participants reported differently. In this study we did not find that the improvement found immediately after the course in aphasic status and verbal performance was maintained after 10 years. It could be that the improvement found immediately after the course was due to an intensive use of language during the course, but also as a result of the rich social life at these schools. An improvement in aphasic status was found in one case. Most participants reported an improved quality of life after the course compared to before. Only one participant reported an overall deterioration, due to a depression, existing before the participant became aphasic. Despite the limited size of this study, and the associated uncertainty in data interpretation, we conclude that this course has had a mojor impact on the participants, and that they have gained a better quality of life even though the improved verbal performance and aphasic status were not maintained.