Translating communication partner training evidence for multilingual aphasia rehabilitation in Malaysia: A structured narrative review.

INTRODUCTION

Aphasia affects everyday communication, social participation, and caregiver wellbeing. Communication partner training (CPT) is a participationoriented intervention that equips familiar partners with strategies to support communication in daily interactions. However, most CPT evidence is drawn from monolingual contexts, limiting applicability to multilingual settings such as Malaysia. This structured narrative review synthesised evidence on CPT effectiveness, implementation determinants, delivery modalities including telepractice and hybrid care, and multilingual aphasia rehabilitation, with the aim of translating these findings to the Malaysian rehabilitation context.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

A structured narrative review was conducted to synthesis the evidence thematically. Evidence was purposively selected to capture CPT effectiveness, caregiver and participation outcomes, implementation determinants, telepractice delivery, multilingual aphasia, and Malaysian service contexts. Findings were synthesised thematically.

RESULTS

CPT consistently improves partner communication behaviours and dyadic conversation outcomes, particularly with trained partners. In contrast, caregiver wellbeing and communication participation outcomes are measured less consistently. Implementation evidence identifies barriers related to time, resources, and service organisation, alongside facilitators such as structured training materials, coaching, and organisational support. Telepractice is a feasible CPT delivery mode, with hybrid approaches offering improved access and flexibility. Multilingual evidence indicates variable cross-language generalisation, highlighting the importance of context-sensitive and flexible CPT designs.

CONCLUSION

CPT has strong evidence as a participationfocused intervention for improving trained partner behaviours and dyadic communication outcomes in aphasia. Its application to multilingual rehabilitation contexts, including Malaysia, requires careful adaptation to family language use, caregiver readiness, delivery feasibility, and service resources. Integrating implementation strategies, telepractice, and multilingual considerations is essential for translation into routine care. A modular, caregiver-centred CPT framework may provide a practical foundation for future co-design, piloting, and evaluation in Malaysian rehabilitation services.