Recommendations for Adapting Religious Materials for People With Aphasia

This study aimed to discover whether text adaptations for aphasia commonly applied to secular texts are also applicable to religious texts, as religious texts are often held in a special regard by religious people. This research included five participants with aphasia who consider themselves members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These participants indicated preferences using a 7-point scale between paired samples of religious text formatted using common aphasia-friendly text adaptations. These quantitative data were analyzed for preference trends. Additionally, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews focused on adaptation preferences as well as aphasia’s effects on religious experiences more generally. Transcripts of these interviews were examined with a descriptive qualitative analysis approach. The results included common preferences for larger font size; 1.5 line spacing; and illustrated text, with natural illustrations preferred over stylized illustrations. Participants were also more likely to prefer adaptations presented on a computer or tablet compared to in print. Qualitative analysis revealed codes under three categories: aphasia’s impacts on scripture reading, reasons for adaptation preferences, and considerations for adaptations. This pilot study helped to further knowledge about how adaptations for aphasia can best be applied to religious texts. These findings may prove helpful to clinicians working with religious PWA. Since this study only included participants from one religious denomination, further research may consider members of other faiths with their respective religious texts. Different types of text adaptation could also be studied.