Spouses' perceptions of persons with aphasia

Spouses' perceptions of 21 persons with aphasia and of 25 controls were mea sured with the Adjective Check List (ACL, Gough & Heilbrun, 1983). Results suggest that persons with aphasia are perceived differently from controls o n the following scales: likeability, achievement, endurance, order, and suc corance. Also, wives of men with and without aphasia differ on the scales o f achievement and endurance. Descriptive results suggest a different experi ence of being a spouse of a person with aphasia compared to being a spouse of a person without aphasia. Moreover, there also appears to be a differenc e in being a husband or a wife of a person with aphasia. The adjectives use d more frequently to describe persons with aphasia were favourable ones. Th e changed abilities of persons with aphasia and their familial and social e nvironments may underlie the findings. Gender, time post-onset, the type of measure used, and the therapeutic situation need to be considered when stu dying psychosocial aspects of aphasia.