The perspectives of older adults on the meaning, role and value of communication in their everyday lives.
Tracks
5
Aged care
Wellbeing
| Friday, June 13, 2025 |
| 1:30 PM - 1:40 PM |
Overview
Ella Matthiesson
Details
⏫ Research insights
⏲️ 1.30pm - 1.50pm
⌛ 20-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
⏲️ 1.30pm - 1.50pm
⌛ 20-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
Presenter
Miss Ella Matthiesson
Graduate Speech Pathologist at Royal Darwin Hospital
The perspectives of older adults on the meaning, role and value of communication in their everyday lives.
1:30 PM - 1:50 PMPresentation summary
This presentation explores the meaning, role and value of communication in older adults' everyday lives. This session aims to provide a brief overview of the research project, focusing on the objective of the project, the methods, results and conclusion. Objective: The research objective includes addressing the current research gap regarding the perspectives of older adults on the role, meaning and value of communication. By doing so it seeks to support the development of person-centred speech pathology services and care plans that align with the values and priorities of older adults. Methods: A qualitative inquiry was conducted employing semi-structured individual interviews via Zoom with 10 older adults. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2022) six-phase reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Through reflexive thematic analysis four key themes were generated regarding the meaning, role and value of communication in older adults’ lives (1) “Communication is everywhere and everything,” (2) “Communication is part of being human,” (3) “Communication serves a multifaceted role,” and (4) “Communication contributes to identity and quality of life.” Conclusion: For older adults, communication is a critical and deeply personal aspect of life. It underpins their ability to engage meaningfully with the world, reinforces their sense of humanity, shapes their identity and overall quality of life. These findings underscore the importance for speech pathologists to consider these broader dimensions when addressing communication impairments in older adults, moving beyond merely addressing the biological aspects to also supporting their identity, sense of humanity, well-being and ultimately to “communicate their way”.
Refrences
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2017). Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2015. ABS https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4430.0Main+Features872015?OpenDocument
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2023). Person-centred care. Australian Comission Website. https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/partnering-consumers/person-centred-care
Barnett, M., & Coldiron, A. (2022). Off-topic verbosity: Relationships between verbal abilities and speech characteristics among young and older adults. Applied neuropsychology. Adult, 29(6), 1362-1368. https://doi.org/10.1080/23279095.2021.1878461
Carstensen, L. L. (2021). Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: The Role of Perceived Endings in Human Motivation. The Gerontologist, 61(8), 1188-1196. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab116
Cruice, M., Worrall, L., & Hickson, L. (2005). Personal factors, communication and vision predict social participation in older adults. Advances in speech-language pathology, 7(4), 220-232. https://doi.org/10.1080/14417040500337088 Davidson, B., Howe, T., Worrall, L., Hickson, L., & Togher, L. (2008). Social Participation for Older People with Aphasia: The Impact of Communication Disability on Friendships. Topics in stroke rehabilitation, 15(4), 325-340. https://doi.org/10.1310/tsr1504-325
Hickson, L. M. H., Worrall, L. E., Barnett, H. M., & Yiu, E. M. L. (1995). The Relationship Between Communication Skills, Social Networks and Decision-making Strategies: an Exploratory Study. Australian Journal on Ageing, 14(2), 89-94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6612.1995.tb00703.x
Horton, W. S., Spieler, D. H., Shriberg, E., Horton, W. S., Spieler, D. H., & Shriberg, E. (2010). A corpus analysis of patterns of age-related change in conversational speech. Psychology & Aging, 25(3), 708-713. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019424 Humes, L. E. (2013). Understanding the speech-understanding problems of older adults. American journal of audiology, 22(2), 303-305. https://doi.org/10.1044/1059-0889(2013/12-0066)
Kemper, S., Thompson, M., & Marquis, J. (2001). Longitudinal Change in Language Production: Effects of Aging and Dementia on Grammatical Complexity and Propositional Content. Psychology and aging, 16(4), 600-614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.16.4.600
Li, Z., Zhang, Z., Ren, Y., Wang, Y., Fang, J., Yue, H., Ma, S., & Guan, F. (2021). Aging and age‐related diseases: from mechanisms to therapeutic strategies. Biogerontology (Dordrecht), 22(2), 165-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-021-09910-5
Meeker, M., McCullough, K. C., McCullough, G. H., & Akpanudo, U. (2021). Examining Social Networks in Older Adults: What Predicts Communicative Participation? Perspectives of the ASHA special interest groups, 6(4), 933-940. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_PERSP-20-00287
Palmer, A. D., Carder, P. C., White, D. L., Saunders, G., Woo, H., Graville, D. J., & Newsom, J. T. (2019). The Impact of Communication Impairments on the Social Relationships of Older Adults: Pathways to Psychological Well-Being. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research, 62(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-S-17-0495
Speech Pathology Australia. (2024). What is a Speech Pathologist and What They Do?. SPA Website. https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Public/Public/services/About-speech-pathologists/What-speech-pathologists-do.aspx
United Nations. (1948). Universal declaration of human rights. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
World Health Organisation. (2012). WHOQOL: Measuring Quality of Life. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/77932/WHO_HIS_HSI_Rev.2012.03_eng.pdf?sequence=1
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. (2023). Person-centred care. Australian Comission Website. https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/partnering-consumers/person-centred-care
Barnett, M., & Coldiron, A. (2022). Off-topic verbosity: Relationships between verbal abilities and speech characteristics among young and older adults. Applied neuropsychology. Adult, 29(6), 1362-1368. https://doi.org/10.1080/23279095.2021.1878461
Carstensen, L. L. (2021). Socioemotional Selectivity Theory: The Role of Perceived Endings in Human Motivation. The Gerontologist, 61(8), 1188-1196. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab116
Cruice, M., Worrall, L., & Hickson, L. (2005). Personal factors, communication and vision predict social participation in older adults. Advances in speech-language pathology, 7(4), 220-232. https://doi.org/10.1080/14417040500337088 Davidson, B., Howe, T., Worrall, L., Hickson, L., & Togher, L. (2008). Social Participation for Older People with Aphasia: The Impact of Communication Disability on Friendships. Topics in stroke rehabilitation, 15(4), 325-340. https://doi.org/10.1310/tsr1504-325
Hickson, L. M. H., Worrall, L. E., Barnett, H. M., & Yiu, E. M. L. (1995). The Relationship Between Communication Skills, Social Networks and Decision-making Strategies: an Exploratory Study. Australian Journal on Ageing, 14(2), 89-94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6612.1995.tb00703.x
Horton, W. S., Spieler, D. H., Shriberg, E., Horton, W. S., Spieler, D. H., & Shriberg, E. (2010). A corpus analysis of patterns of age-related change in conversational speech. Psychology & Aging, 25(3), 708-713. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019424 Humes, L. E. (2013). Understanding the speech-understanding problems of older adults. American journal of audiology, 22(2), 303-305. https://doi.org/10.1044/1059-0889(2013/12-0066)
Kemper, S., Thompson, M., & Marquis, J. (2001). Longitudinal Change in Language Production: Effects of Aging and Dementia on Grammatical Complexity and Propositional Content. Psychology and aging, 16(4), 600-614. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.16.4.600
Li, Z., Zhang, Z., Ren, Y., Wang, Y., Fang, J., Yue, H., Ma, S., & Guan, F. (2021). Aging and age‐related diseases: from mechanisms to therapeutic strategies. Biogerontology (Dordrecht), 22(2), 165-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-021-09910-5
Meeker, M., McCullough, K. C., McCullough, G. H., & Akpanudo, U. (2021). Examining Social Networks in Older Adults: What Predicts Communicative Participation? Perspectives of the ASHA special interest groups, 6(4), 933-940. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_PERSP-20-00287
Palmer, A. D., Carder, P. C., White, D. L., Saunders, G., Woo, H., Graville, D. J., & Newsom, J. T. (2019). The Impact of Communication Impairments on the Social Relationships of Older Adults: Pathways to Psychological Well-Being. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research, 62(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-S-17-0495
Speech Pathology Australia. (2024). What is a Speech Pathologist and What They Do?. SPA Website. https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Public/Public/services/About-speech-pathologists/What-speech-pathologists-do.aspx
United Nations. (1948). Universal declaration of human rights. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
World Health Organisation. (2012). WHOQOL: Measuring Quality of Life. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/77932/WHO_HIS_HSI_Rev.2012.03_eng.pdf?sequence=1
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Ella Matthiesson is a fourth-year speech pathology honours student at the Australian Catholic University. She is passionate about evidence-based practice and committed to advocating for person-centred care to enhance individuals' health and wellbeing. Ella currently works as an Allied Health Assistant in a private practice and as a Support Worker. In her spare time, she enjoys running and cooking. This is her first journal article publication.
The information contained in this program is current at of the time of publishing but is subject to changes made without notice.
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Important Notice, please read: The views expressed in this presentation and reproduced in these materials are not necessarily the views of, or endorsed by, The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited ("the Association"). The Association makes no warranty or representation in relation to the content, currency or accuracy of any of the materials comprised in this presentation. The Association expressly disclaims any and all liability (including liability for negligence) in respect of use of these materials and the information contained within them. The Association recommends you seek independent professional advice prior to making any decision involving matters outlined in this presentation including in any of the materials referred to or otherwise incorporated into this presentation.
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