Friendship Research Days

In 2012 we held two events, one in Northampton and one in London.
 
We invited  people with aphasia to come along to the days and listen to stories about  friendship and aphasia from the first stage of our project.

We asked people with  aphasia for their reactions to these stories. They told us about their own  experiences of friends, friendship and aphasia after stroke.

---

Here are some of the thoughts and ideas from these
‘Friendship Research Days’








What’s important about friendship for people with aphasia
 
What helps friendship for people with aphasia
 

---

People had lots of ideas that came to them during the day. We wrote them on notes and shared them with the group.

---

We used creative ways to help people think about their friendships.For example, we used stones and pebbles to represent friends and groups of friends. For some people, this helped people to talk about their friends and made the conversation easier.

---

After the days Carole interviewed many of the people with aphasia who came to
the events. We analysed the interviews . At the end of the project the Research Team put together some more ideas and suggestions for:

• People with  aphasia
• Friends and family members
• Health and social care workers
  

We have given talks and workshops to people with aphasia and their friends and families. We use these events to check out our findings and gather more ideas for future events. If you would like us to run an event for your group contact Carole  - cpound@bournemouth.ac.uk