Cypriot Healthcare Professionals’ Knowledge and Skills When Interacting With Patients With Aphasia in Clinical Settings

What is already known on this subject Aphasia, which affects 40% of stroke survivors in the acute phase, profoundly impacts communication abilities, leading to longer hospital stays, increased healthcare needs, and higher rates of disability. Many healthcare professionals lack the training, strategies, and resources required to effectively communicate with people with aphasia (PWA), limiting PWA's participation in decision-making and negatively impacting the quality of care. In Cyprus, there is an urgent need to evaluate and enhance healthcare professionals' competencies in supporting PWA, highlighting the importance of communication training programs in improving care quality and patient outcomes. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge This research highlights the critical need for accessible training programs at all educational levels to ensure equitable standards of stroke care in Cyprus. Moderate interaction with PWA plays a pivotal role in improving healthcare professionals' communication skills, emphasising the importance of balanced and sustainable contact opportunities that foster professional development while minimising the risk of burnout. The findings also reveal that professional experience alone does not enhance communication outcomes unless accompanied by purposeful training and meaningful interaction with PWA. The study underscores the need for targeted communication training for healthcare professionals to improve interdisciplinary collaboration and patient care outcomes. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The clinical implications are as follows (a) there is a critical need to implement Communication Partner Training programs in Cypriot healthcare settings to address knowledge and skills gaps among non-speech language therapy (SLT) healthcare professionals; (b) communication training programs can create more inclusive clinical environments, enabling PWA to actively participate in healthcare decisions and rehabilitation planning; (c) training interventions should be tailored to different professional groups and educational levels, with introductory-level modules for non-SLT professionals and advanced modules for SLTs; (d) communication training has the potential to improve the quality of care, patient satisfaction, and rehabilitation outcomes for PWA; (e) these actions will provide a basis for developing scalable and targeted communication training solutions to meet diverse healthcare needs in Cyprus.