EVA Park Group project: Update 1
The latest Stroke Association funded EVA Park project is a third of the way through! During this project, four support groups, each involving 8 people with aphasia, will run for 6 months in EVA Park. The groups will be led by local co-ordinators and volunteers, supervised by the EVA Park team. They will follow a planned programme of activities which are designed to foster relationships between the participants, and help build optimism and resilience. The research aims to find out whether this type of intervention is feasible in EVA Park, and whether it improves measures of wellbeing, communication and quality of life. We are also exploring participants’ views about the intervention and the views of the group volunteers and co-ordinators. Last, but not least, we want to know what it costs.
The project is being supported by an advisory group of people with aphasia, family members and representatives from relevant voluntary services. This group has met three times and provided us with invaluable guidance.
So far we have:
- Recruited the 4 groups, which are based across the UK
- Recruited 34 participants with aphasia
- Designed the programme of activities
- Identified and trained all volunteers and co-ordinators
- Started to collect data on all our measures
Two of the groups are well underway. The other two will start to meet next March.
Check the website and Twitter for regular updates on how the project is progressing.
