Return to Work in Aphasics

Abstract

In order to elucidate the factors which have influence on return to work in aphasics, a correlation was studied between social prognosis and various factors: aphasia type, severity, educational level, age, WAIS-R performance IQ (PIQ). Subjects were 50 right-handed aphasics with following diagnoses: 16 Broca's, 9 Wernicke's, 5 Globals, 20 Anomics. In Globals and Wernike's, PIQ were significantly lower than that in other aphasics. On the other hand, rate of the return to work was higher in Broca's (mild) and Anomics (mild). PIQ showed that the group of the return to work (89.3±12.9) were significantly higher than shelterd employed group (75.1±12.6) and the group without the return to work (76.2±14.9). This study underlines the crucial role of aphasia type, severity and PIQ as predictor of vocational outcome in aphasic patients.