City Research Online

Abstract

Purpose
Improving conversation between a person with aphasia (PWA) and their primary conversation partner (PCP) is a goal of aphasia therapy. However, there are few outcome measurements available that enable conversation success to be measured from the perspective of the target population. This study sought to define the construct of “conversation success” from the perspective of PWA and PCP in the development of a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) of dyadic conversation.

Methods
PWA (n = 20) and their PCP (n = 19) participated in online focus groups using the nominal group technique. Participants responded to the question, “What makes your conversations successful with your communication partner?” and ranked the three most important items in terms of personal preference. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse priorities across groups.

Results
In eight focus groups, 39 participants generated 190 items describing successful conversation. Five themes were identified: (1) working it out together, (2) having patience, (3) being familiar with your conversation partner, (4) considering the conversation environment, and (5) having a positive attitude and mindset.

Conclusions
The participants conceptualised successful conversation in terms of behaviours, strategies, and feelings. These results will inform the development of a PROM for dyadic conversation in aphasia.

Implications for rehabilitation
Aphasia impacts how successful conversations can be for the person with aphasia and their conversation partner.

Dyads with the lived experience of aphasia have strengthened the evidence regarding communication and coping strategies that facilitate successful conversations.

Clinicians providing conversation therapies and communication partner training should focus more directly on coping strategies, attitudes, and mindsets and address the impact of aphasia on conversation and relationships.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 the author(s). Published by Informa UK limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution-non Commercial-no Derivatives license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Publisher Keywords:	aphasia; conversation; patient-reported outcomes; couples; dyads
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Departments:	School of Health & Medical Sciences School of Health & Medical Sciences > Department of Allied Health
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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