Date of Award

9-27-2023

Publication Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Psychology

Supervisor

Lori Buchanan

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The Aphasia Friendly Business Campaign (AFBC) is a training program that was created to address the lack of public knowledge of aphasia. Previous work has demonstrated that the in-person delivery of the AFBC was efficacious in achieving training outcomes (i.e., improve trainee’s knowledge of aphasia and perceived ability to communicate with people with aphasia; Borsatto et al., 2021). This dissertation describes the expansion of the AFBC training program to a virtual platform, assesses its efficacy, and investigates how the virtual delivery compared to its in-person counterpart. In addition, outcome and impact program evaluations (i.e., post-tests and semi-structured interviews [SSI], respectively) were conducted to assess virtual training retention and transfer. Results of this multi-method study showed that the virtual AFBC training significantly improved aphasia knowledge (AK) and perceived self-efficacy (SE) in trainee’s ability to use supportive communication skills. Comparing modalities, the virtual trainees outperformed in-person group on the post-training AQ outcome measure. Investigation of SE showed that the in-person trainees felt significantly more comfortable and confident using communicative skills than the virtual group. Program evaluation results suggested that trainees were satisfied overall with the AFBC virtual training. Analysis of SSI data generated four themes: (1) knowledge and skill acquisition, (2) knowledge translation, (3) accessibility awareness, and (4) considerations for future. The content was perceived as relevant and comprehensive, and trainees reported that they remembered and translated communication skills into their daily lives. This efficacious online aphasia training program has implications for increasing communicative accessibility for people with aphasia and more broadly, individuals with communication challenges in general.

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