The Effect of Online Education Program on the Communication Effectiveness and Communication Self-Efficacy of the family of people with aphasia

Introduction: Aphasia or in another word, the linguistic or verbal disorder is one of the significant complications of strokes. This issue effects on patients’ relationship and activity in society,at work place and home. In order to provide better care and live with these patients, the family members of these patients should better understand the verbal disorders of the person with aphasia and acquire appropriate communication skills. In this study we tried to demonstrate the effect of an online educational program on communication effectiveness and communication self-efficacy of family members of aphasia patients.

Methods: A Non-randomized controlled trial was conducted with 50 family member (n=25 control group ,n=25 intervention group)of those with aphasia due to a stroke. The participants of the intervention and control groups were enrolled in the study from Shariati and Imam hospitals, respectively. The intervention of this study was an online educational program ,the researcher taught family members about aphasia and communication methods with aphasia patients via computer or smartphone and through Skype; And sent videos and related educational materials to the participants through internet and answered their questions. The data were collected by using the demographic information questionnaire of the family member and the demographic and clinical information of the patients with aphasia, the communication effectiveness and the communication self-efficacy questionnaire. Finally, the data analysis was performed using SPSS software ver 16 and Chi-square and t-test.

Results: The two groups were equal in the demographic variables of the family members, the demographic and clinical information of the patients, as well as in terms of the effectiveness of communication and communication self-efficacy at baseline. After the intervention, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of communication effectiveness (p<0.001) and communication self-efficacy (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between the intervention group (p<0.001) and the control group (p<0.001) in terms of communication effectiveness and communication self-efficacy, so that the communication effectiveness and communication self-efficacy score increased in both groups.

Discussion and conclusion: Performing an online educational program can affect the communication effectiveness and communication self-efficacy of family members of aphasia patients. Putting this method into practice causes better communication between family members and aphasia patients and provide better care for these patients.

Key words: stroke, aphasia, communication effectiveness, communication self-efficacy