UQ researcher, Dr Jessica Campbell will lead a new project aimed at improving the lives of people with aphasia, a debilitating condition that impacts one in three survivors of stroke.
Dr Campbell has been awarded the inaugural Lady Southey Aphasia Research Grant of $99,869 over two years, as part of the Stroke Foundation’s 2022 Research Grant Round.
The grant will support the project titled CHAT-Maintain: Maintaining language and quality of life gains with low-dose technology-delivered aphasia therapy.
Dr Campbell said aphasia is a common and chronic disability that affects the ability to talk, to understand what people are saying, and reading and writing.
“Aphasia increases the risk of social isolation and depression and often makes it difficult or impossible to people to return to work.,” Dr Campbell said.
“It is difficulty with language, not a loss of intelligence. One good treatment for aphasia is intensive therapy, but for some people, that is not enough for long lasting language improvement.
“We want to achieve long-term improvement to ultimately improve quality of life.”
Dr Campbell is a researcher for UQ's School of Health and Rebabilitation Sciences and the Queensland Aphasia Research Centre, a research centre of STARS Research and Education Alliance.
