Group interventions for people with primary progressive aphasia and their care partners: Considerations for clinical practice

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) describes a group of language-led dementias. Speech and language therapy is the main available intervention for people with PPA. Despite best practice recommendations for speech and language therapy to include access to group therapies (Volkmer et al, 2023a), research evidence to date has predominantly focused on delivery in individual sessions. The aim of this study was to gather the collective intelligence of expert speech and language therapists/pathologists delivering group therapy for people with PPA to synthesize guidance for clinicians. This paper describes a qualitative study using narrative synthesis methods. Data were collected using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication - TIDiER. Eight respondents described a total of 17 different groups. Respondents worked across healthcare, research clinics and third sector organizations in Australia, Canada, Spain, the USA and the UK. For the purposes of analysis, groups were divided into two main types: (1) groups delivering specific therapy interventions; and (2) groups providing broader opportunities for conversational practice and support. This initial synthesis of the current state of the art in PPA therapy groups highlights several important considerations around candidacy, content and ecological validity of delivering group intervention for people with PPA.