Emotional expression among stroke patients with aphasia : perspectives of nurses and caregivers

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine stroke patients' emotional expression from the perspectives of nurses and caregivers. The investigation also tried to detect emotional expression among different types of aphasia. The selected cases included 25 nurses and 20 caregivers who mainly provide personal care for stroke patients with aphasia at Prasart Neurological Institute, Thailand. The qualitative data were collected by using two in-depth interview guidelines. Focus group discussions were also conducted for nurses and caregivers. Data analysis was an ongoing interactive process that paralleled data collection. The analysis continued with examination of the concepts related to emotional expression, and explanations were given from the case respondents and discussions. The findings of this study revealed that types of emotional expression that stroke patients with aphasia mostly performed were feelings of frustration and aggression at the first stage of sickness. Moreover, stroke patients with aphasia have trouble communicating with others, and therefore they felt mostly depressed from the middle to final stages of hospitalization. Nevertheless, in the final stage of treatment, if the patients felt great satisfaction with their recovery and treatment them, they expressed happiness. However, not all patients calmed down, depending on innate characteristics, relationships between stroke patients with aphasia and their caregivers, as well as socio-economic status, and work positions of the patients. From the results, nurses and caregivers could detect and understand patient's emotional expression by facial expression, voices, acts, gestures and writing or pointing at pictures/word charts.