Making Religious Texts More Aphasia-Friendly: Recommendations From a Case Study of Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Purpose: Aphasia-friendly modifications generally make texts more accessible. However, because religious texts are often held in a special regard, some aphasia-friendly modifications may not be appropriate for them. The purpose of the current study was to explore aphasia-friendly religious text adaptations within the context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Method: Five adults with aphasia who consider themselves members of The Church of Jesus Christ participated in the current study. 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 ethnographic interviews focused on adaptation preferences as well as the effect of aphasia on religious experiences more generally. Transcripts of these interviews were examined using a qualitative descriptive analysis approach. Results: The results show common preferences for larger font size, 1.5 line spacing, and illustrated text, with realistic 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 commonalities such as aphasia’s impacts on scripture reading, the context dependence of adaptation preferences, and the perceived target audience of certain adaptations. Conclusions: This small exploratory study helped to further knowledge about how adaptations for aphasia can best be applied to religious texts of the Church of Jesus Christ. These findings may prove helpful for clinicians working with people with aphasia in the Church of Jesus Christ who are interested in engaging with religious texts. Because this study included participants from one religious denomination, further research may consider members of other faiths with their respective religious texts. Different types or combinations of aphasiafriendly text adaptations could also be studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]