Decision-making capacity and aphasia: speech-language pathologists’ perspectives

Background: In health care settings, a person’s ability to make decisions may be questioned as a result of neurological disease or injury that can affect cognitive function. To determine whether a person is able to make a decision, health care professionals are required to carry out an assessment of decision-making capacity (DMC; also known as capacity assessments). For individuals with aphasia, these types of assessment may be problematic because they rely heavily on language abilities. There is a growing body of literature available on capacity assessments of individuals with aphasia, yet there are few studies on the perspectives of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) related to DMC assessments of individuals with aphasia, including barriers and facilitators to valid assessments.Aims: The purpose of this study was to explore perspectives of SLPs on assessments of DMC with individuals with aphasia. The following research questions were of interest: (1) What do SLPs know about capacity assessment? (2) Wha...