Measuring and monitoring aphasia services

This study will implement a method of measuring usual aphasia care using a minimum aphasia dataset. The minimum dataset comprises sociodemographic data (e.g., age, sex at birth, languages spoken), process of care indicators (e.g., use of standardised aphasia assessment tool, provision of aphasia education to patient/family) , treatment descriptors (e.g., type of aphasia treatment provided, number of aphasia treatment sessions) and core aphasia outcome measures (i.e., Western Aphasia Battery-Revised, Scenario Test, SAQoL-39g, GHQ-12). The minimum dataset will be collected only while the participant is an inpatient in a participating acute or subacute hospital/health service. Participants may receive usual care aphasia intervention provided by hospital speech pathologists and/or other allied health professionals. The usual care aphasia interventions provided to participants will not be prescribed by the research team and will differ across participants and sites. The minimum dataset will capture details about usual care aphasia intervention. Patient experience questionnaire Participants (patients with aphasia) will also complete an aphasia-friendly patient experience questionnaire (one per participant) prior to completing their involvement in the study. This may occur in the acute hospital setting for patients being discharged directly to the community, or in the subacute setting for patients who receive subacute rehabilitation. The questionnaire comprises six questions: 1) How easy was it for you to provide information and participate in the speech pathology tests? 2) How understandable were the questions and tests? 3) How helpful were the questions and tests in describing you and your aphasia? 4) How much did you enjoy answering the questions and completing the tests? 5) Was the amount of time it took to complete the tests acceptable? 6) How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the questions asked and the tests completed? Participants will respond on a 5-point Likert scale with visual supports (to increase accessibility for people with aphasia). In addition, there is one open-ended question: Do you have any other feedback you would like to share about your experience? Patient experiences will contribute to the evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of implementing the minimum dataset in clinical practice.