Informing and supporting partners and children of persons with aphasia: a comparison of supply and demand.

In this study we investigated how important significant others find it to be informed, supported, and trained by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and to what extent they perceive their expectations and needs as to these aspects to be fulfilled. Furthermore SLPs were asked about the importance of informing and supporting family members and as to how far they believe they provide adequate care in that field. A questionnaire was completed by 77 relatives of persons with aphasia, a parallel version by 132 SLPs. More than 50% of all aspects concerning information and support were considered as (very) important by family members and SLPs alike. Nevertheless family members felt that some of their needs indicated as important were insufficiently met by SLPs.