Making a voice heard: evaluation of a new service delivery in augmentative and alternative communication through qualitative interviews with people without natural speech.

Objective: Due to communication barriers, people without natural speech who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are rarely interviewed about their healthcare needs, expectations, and experiences. This qualitative interview study aims to investigate how AAC users evaluate a new service delivery (nSD) in AAC care in Germany.

Results: We conducted 8 semi-structured qualitative interviews with 8 AAC users. The results of the performed qualitative content analysis show a positive evaluation of the nSD among AAC users. Contextual factors were identified that seem to hinder the achievement of the intervention goals. These include caregivers' prejudice and inexperience with AAC and an unfavourable environment in which AAC is used.