LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. This document is the author's submitted version of the journal article, before the peer review process. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it.
For more research by LSE authors go to LSE
Divergences of Perspective Between People With Aphasia and their Family CaregiversBackground: Studies of the relation between family caregivers and care-receivers have identified large divergences between their perspectives. It has been suggested that these divergences may adversely affect the care relationship. However, there has been little research examining the source of these divergences.
Aims:The reported mixed-method study aimed to examine the relationship between people with aphasia and their family caregivers in order to identify the sources of observed divergences of perspective.
Methods & Procedures:Twenty people with aphasia and their main family caregivers, living in the UK, completed an adapted version of the Interpersonal Perception Method questionnaire, which yielded both rating data and qualitative data. Participants rated themselves, each other, and how they thought the other would rate them, on issues regarding communication ability and identity.
Outcomes & Results:As expected on the basis of existing research, divergences clustered around the provision of communication support and issues of confidence, independence, embarrassment and overprotection. A qualitative analysis of the participants' talk during the rating task suggested that a source of these discrepancies is in the conflicting demands which characterise the care relationship, specifically, caregivers' desire to support independence on the one hand but feeling compelled to be protective on the other hand. In response to these demands, caregivers try to create the impression that the disability has less impact than it has and that they are more in control than they feel they are.
Conclusions:We conclude by suggesting that some divergences of perspective may not be adverse overall, but rather, may be a result of caregivers' creative adaptations to seemingly irreconcilable demands.Keywords: Aphasia, UK, family care, role, identity, disagreement, misunderstanding 2
AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to acknowledge the support of a research grant from the Economic and Social Research Council, UK (RES-000-22-2473).
3
Divergences of Perspective Between People ...