Marriage and family therapists’ perspectives of working with couples impacted by aphasia: general perceptions and response to Relationship-Centered Communication partner training

Purpose The psychosocial needs of couples impacted by aphasia are often unmet. This study aimed to determine what marriage and family therapists (MFTs) practicing in the United States (US) know and understand about aphasia and how aphasia education impacts their perceptions.Methods MFTs practicing in the US completed a Qualtrics survey. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of two groups in which they underwent brief written education with or without exposure to video footage from couples undergoing Relationship-Centered Communication Partner Training. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze MFTs knowledge, experience, confidence, and comfort; Inferential statistics were used to analyze the effects of aphasia education.Results MFTs (n = 61) overwhelmingly demonstrated limited knowledge about aphasia (80.3% of respondents) and limited experience and confidence working with aphasia (≥82% of respondents). Lack of training was a major barrier (identified by 83.6% of respondents). Despite this, MFTs reported comfort addressing communication strategies and marriage roles and responsibilities (≥62.3% of respondents) and felt that doing so was within their scope of practice (≥70.5% of respondents). Written aphasia education – especially when paired with video examples – improved MFT’s knowledge and confidence and mitigated concerns about their lack of training.Conclusion MFTs would benefit from direct education and training about aphasia especially when it includes video exposure. Interprofessional education could facilitate these educational experiences.