Aphasia: Do We Understand its Impact?
Keywords:
MedicineAbstract
Objective: To establish the extent of Trinity College Dublin students’ awareness of aphasia in comparison to multiple sclerosis, a disorder with lower prevalence. Methods: Three-hundred students from all six faculties in Trinity College Dublin were surveyed: Arts Humanities; Arts Letters; Business, Economics and Social Studies (BESS); Engineering and System Sciences; Health Sciences; and Science. The survey enquired if the students had "heard of aphasia", ‘heard of multiple sclerosis’, along with further questioning which allowed for the elaboration of their knowledge of each disorder. The scale ranked the students’ knowledge as good, basic, or no knowledge. Results: Of the 300 students surveyed, 40 said they had heard of aphasia (13.3%), with 28 of these students (9.3%) meeting the criteria for "basic knowledge of aphasia". In comparison, 267 of the students surveyed (89%) said they had heard about multiple sclerosis, with 223 (74.3%) of these meeting the criteria for ‘basic knowledge of multiple sclerosis’. These findings lend support to the notion that the students lack awareness and understanding of aphasia, and that there is an imbalance between the level of awareness and understanding between aphasia and multiple sclerosis.
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