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Better Conversations With Primary Progressive Aphasia (BCPPA): Asking people with PPA and their families how speech and language therapists could support them to live well and maintain relationships

Background: Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) describes a heterogeneous group of language-led dementias associated with frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. People with PPA present with a progressive loss of language on a background of otherwise intact cognitive skills in the initial stages of the disease process (Gorno-Tempini et al., 2011). Given the dominant communication difficulty, it is unsurprising that speech and language therapists (SLTs) are reporting increased referrals. Yet the research literature on interventions for PPA is sparse and predominantly focused on word retrieval therapies that require the person to drill lists of words on a daily basis (Jokel, Graham, Rochon, & Leonard, 2014). SLTs report prioritising functional interventions such as conversation (Volkmer & Beeke, 2015). In order to address this gap, a conversation training intervention called Better Conversations with PPA (BCPPA) is being developed and piloted. This program is based on the successful Better Conversations with Aphasia resource (Beeke et al., 2013), designed for people with post-stroke aphasia. To ensure that the BCPPA program meets the needs of people with PPA and their families, focus groups were conducted where participants were asked “How can SLTs support people with PPA to live well andmaintain relationships?”. This presentation will report the focus group findings and their implications for BCPPA program development. BCPPA will be made freely available following the pilot study that is currently underway. Aims: This study aims to identify how conversation therapy can meet the needs of people with PPA and their family members with a view to refining the BCPPA program in preparation for a pilot study. Methods and procedures: Participants were invited from the PPA branch of the Rare Dementias Support Group based at University College London to attend two focus group meetings. Video-recorded discussions were led by an experienced SLT, supported by an SLT student. Participants were asked to discuss the following question “How can SLTs support people with PPA to live well and maintain relationships?”. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was conducted. Themes were then associated with key components of the BCPPA program under development. Outcomes and results: Eleven participants, five people with PPA and six family members who consented to participate in the study, attended the meetings. Three overarching themes emerged from the focus groups: (1) timing of intervention, (2) SLTs’ understanding