A review on activity-participation-based approaches in aphasia therapy

Abstract

Individuals with aphasia experience limitations in participating in life and daily activities. Contemporary traditional therapy approaches primarily focus on the individual’s neurological, linguistic, and cognitive impairments. The main goals of activity and participation-based approaches are to eliminate the communication barriers caused by aphasia, include individuals with aphasia and their communication partners in the intervention process, and create the necessary environmental conditions. In this review, we provide speech and language therapists with an informative review of the effectiveness of activity and participation-based intervention approaches at national and international levels by conducting a literature review and presenting compensatory strategies that would improve the quality of life of individuals with aphasia and their communication partners. In this context, national and international publications related to activity-participation-based approaches in aphasia were reviewed, information about these approaches was given, and the findings of effectiveness studies were compiled. The results of the review indicate that activity and participation-based approaches are effective in revealing the existing language competencies of individuals with aphasia, enabling them to be more active participants in communication and to develop methods, reducing the stress, depression symptoms, and caregiving burdens of their communication partners, facilitating more effective communication with the individual with aphasia, and enhancing the quality of life for both the individual with aphasia and their communication partner.

Cite this article as: Selvi Balo S, Kurt A. A review on activity-participation-based approaches in aphasia therapy. Turk J Neurol 2026;32(2):125-135. doi: 10.55697/tnd.2026.361.

S.S.B.: Idea/concept, control/ supervision, critical review; S.S.B., A.K.: Design, analysis and/or interpretation, literature review, writing the article, references and fundings; A.K.: Data collection and/or processing.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.

The authors declare that artificial intelligence (AI) tools were not used, or were used solely for language editing, and had no role in data analysis, interpretation, or the formulation of conclusions. All scientific content, data interpretation, and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors. The authors further confirm that AI tools were not used to generate, fabricate, or ‘hallucinate’ references, and that all references have been carefully verified for accuracy.