Characterization of the communication resources used by patients in palliative care - an integrative review

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to integrative review of publications concerning the role of speech and language therapists in regards to communication strategies in palliative care, as well as the characterization of the types of communication used in these cases. The search was conducted in the databases SciELO, LILACS and PubMed from 2001 to 2016. The studies selected included abstracts or full articles addressing aspects of communication in palliative care, especially those related to speech and language therapy, with an emphasis on communication. Ten articles focused on communication, and published after 2004, were selected, half being literature reviews, two, case reports, two others, quantitative exploratory studies, and one, a qualitative exploratory study, with only 3 specifically describing the communication strategies used by speech and language therapists in patients in palliative care. The descriptors found were: palliative care, communication, speech and language therapy, quality of life, dysphagia, swallowing and elderly. Four of the ten articles showed the importance of patients communication in palliative care. When described, it is up to the speech and language therapist to provide family support, evaluate the patient, favore patient-family and patient-team intervention, manage and intervene in communication and swallowing. Finally, the most used communication strategies were non-verbal communication, communication board, electronic equipment, verbal communication and speech valve. The analysis of the characterization of the communication in palliative care over the past 15 years allowed concluding that the attention to communication is recent and is only described in a few reports, includes non-verbal communication in different ways as the most frequent resource, but provides oral communication as an important factor for maintaining dignity and comfort in this scenario. Speech and language therapist are the main interlocutors for the maintenance, mediation and adaptation of communication, within the multidisciplinary team as well as among patients, their family and the care team.

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Speech and language therapy in palliative care

10.1093/med/9780199656097.003.0410 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Tim Luckett ◽

Katherine L.P. Reid

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Multidisciplinary Care ◽

Research Literature ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Care Needs ◽

Speech And Language Therapy ◽

The Core ◽

Specialist Services ◽

Palliative Phase

Palliative care is an emerging specialty within the field of speech and language therapy (SLT); the discipline is currently under-represented both in specialist services and the research literature. This belies the fact that many patients in the palliative phase suffer problems with swallowing (dysphagia) and communication, the core domains of SLT practice. This chapter provides an overview of difficulties encountered in these domains by people with life-limiting conditions together with common approaches to assessment and management. Assessment and management should be person-centred, integrated into multidisciplinary care, and seek to maintain function via minimal intervention for maximum gain. More research is needed to inform appropriately integrated, person-centred models of SLT provision that enable difficulties with communication and swallowing to be addressed alongside other symptoms and care needs. It seems likely that difficulties in these domains are currently under-identified and under-treated in many cases.

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The role of the speech and language therapist in psychiatry

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1192/pb.20.9.524 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 524-526

Author(s):

N. J. Muir

Keyword(s):

Mental Illnesses ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Speech And Language Therapy ◽

Language Therapist ◽

Wide Range ◽

Golden Jubilee ◽

Communication Impairments ◽

Cognitive Neuropsychological

Speech and language therapy is a small profession. It only reached its golden jubilee year in 1995 and misleadingly, remains for many highly associated with the elocution training in which the profession had its genesis. In the last few years the greatest developments have been in the area of cognitive neuropsychological and functional (pragmatic) models for the assessment and management of language and communication. It is the premise of this article that speech and language therapists are likely to prove flexible and valuable members of the multidisciplinary team, with the ability to contribute a further dimension to care planning – that of specific clinical input to the wide range of language, speech and communication impairments associated with the major mental illnesses (Gravell & France, 1991).

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Investigating a new tablet-based telerehabilitation app in patients with aphasia: a randomised, controlled, evaluator-blinded, multicentre trial protocol

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037702 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. e037702

Author(s):

Arif Sinan Uslu ◽

Stephan M Gerber ◽

Nadine Schmidt ◽

Carina Röthlisberger ◽

Patric Wyss ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Cognitive Training ◽

High Frequency ◽

Verbal Communication ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Speech And Language Therapy ◽

Language Functions ◽

Randomised Controlled

IntroductionAphasia is a common language disorder acquired after stroke that reduces the quality of life of affected patients. The impairment is frequently accompanied by a deficit in cognitive functions. The state-of-the-art therapy is speech and language therapy but recent findings highlight positive effects of high-frequency therapy. Telerehabilitation has the potential to enable high-frequency therapy for patients at home. This study investigates the effects of high-frequency telerehabilitation speech and language therapy (teleSLT) on language functions in outpatients with aphasia compared with telerehabilitative cognitive training. We hypothesise that patients training with high-frequency teleSLT will show higher improvement in language functions and quality of life compared with patients with high-frequency tele-rehabilitative cognitive training (teleCT).Methods and analysisThis study is a randomised controlled, evaluator-blinded multicentre superiority trial comparing the outcomes following either high-frequency teleSLT or teleCT. A total of 100 outpatients with aphasia will be recruited and assigned in a 1:1 ratio stratified by trial site and severity of impairment to one of two parallel groups. Both groups will train over a period of 4 weeks for 2 hours per day. Patients in the experimental condition will devote 80% of their training time to teleSLT and the remaining 20% (24 min/day) to teleCT, vice versa for patients in the control condition. The primary outcome measure is the understandability of verbal communication on the Amsterdam Nijmegen Everyday Language Test and secondary outcome measures are intelligibility of the verbal communication, impairment of receptive and expressive language functions, confrontation naming. Other outcomes measures are quality of life and acceptance (usability and subjective experience) of the teleSLT system.Ethics and disseminationThis study is approved by the Ethics Committee Bern (ID 2016-01577). Results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration numberNCT03228264.

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Speech and language therapy in palliative care

10.1093/med/9780198821328.003.0025 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 231-240

Author(s):

Tim Luckett ◽

Katherine L. P. Reid

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Multidisciplinary Care ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Care Needs ◽

Minimal Intervention ◽

Speech And Language Therapy ◽

The Core ◽

Specialist Services ◽

Palliative Phase

Palliative care is an emerging specialty within the field of speech and language therapy. The discipline is currently under-represented both in specialist services and research. Many patients in the palliative phase suffer problems with swallowing (dysphagia) and communication, the core domains of speech and language therapy practice. This chapter provides an overview of difficulties encountered in these domains by people with life-limiting conditions together with common approaches to assessment and management. Assessment and management should be person-centred, integrated into multidisciplinary care, and seek to maintain function using minimal intervention for maximum gain. More research is needed to inform appropriately integrated, person-centred models of speech and language therapy provision that enable difficulties with communication and swallowing to be addressed proactively alongside other symptoms and care needs. Difficulties in these domains are currently under-identified and undertreated in many cases.

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Reflective practice across speech and language therapy and education: a protocol for an integrative review

HRB Open Research ◽

10.12688/hrbopenres.13234.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 29

Author(s):

Jessica McCluskey ◽

Aoife Gallagher ◽

Carol-Anne Murphy

Keyword(s):

Reflective Practice ◽

Inclusive Education ◽

Research Policy ◽

Evidence Synthesis ◽

Integrative Review ◽

Qualitative Evidence Synthesis ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Speech And Language Therapy ◽

Shared Language

Effective co-practice is considered a linchpin of inclusive education. Speech and language therapists (SLT), in collaboration with teachers, are amongst the professionals who have a role in ensuring inclusion for students. The challenges of collaboration are well documented, with communication considered a potential antidote. Proposals for how collaborative communication can take place often align with models of reflection. Uncertainty around a shared language for reflection within and across the professions of teaching and SLT may pose a barrier to it occurring. Reflection has long been documented as a strategy used by effective clinicians to improve practice. Hence, teachers and SLTs reflecting together could be considered ‘a port of entry’ for effective collaborative practice. This study aims to synthesise literature and knowledge on the phenomenon of reflective practice across the professions to facilitate collaboration for inclusive education. The method of qualitative evidence synthesis will be an integrative review. A systematic search will be conducted to extract empirical studies, reviews and theoretical papers on the topic of reflection across both professions. An adapted version of the PRISMA reporting guidelines will be used in the development, design and reporting of this review. Four databases will be searched: CINAHL, SCOPUS, Education Source and ERIC. A web-based search will also be conducted to retrieve relevant policy documents. Included literature will be appraised using the M-MAT and an adapted checklist from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Deductive content analysis will endeavour to determine if a shared language exists about reflection, across the professions of teaching and speech and language therapy. Establishing a shared language represents a first step towards the development of a framework for collaborative reflection between teachers and SLTs. This is turn serves to inform future research, policy and practice regarding how speech and language therapist can work collaboratively with teachers in schools.

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Gillian Davies: What it’s like to be a Speech and Language Therapist

10.13056/acamh.11667 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Speech And Language ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Speech And Language Therapy ◽

Language Therapist ◽

Therapy Service

Gillian Davies talks about what it's like to be a speech and language therapist in the Evelina London Community Speech and Language Therapy service (Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust)

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‘There’s this big fear around palliative care because it’s connected to death and dying’: A qualitative exploration of the perspectives of undergraduate students on the role of the speech and language therapist in palliative care

Palliative Medicine ◽

10.1177/02692163211050818 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 026921632110508

Author(s):

Claire A Collins

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Death And Dying ◽

Research Literature ◽

Practice Research ◽

Speech And Language ◽

Language Therapy ◽

Student Speech ◽

Clinical Placements ◽

Speech And Language Therapy

Background: Speech and language therapy in palliative care is a developing discipline of clinical practice. Research literature has highlighted that undergraduate palliative care education in speech and language therapy is inconsistent and inadequate. However, limited research has been carried out to date in relation to student speech and language therapists and palliative care. Aim: To explore the role of speech and language therapists in palliative care from the perspective of speech and language therapy students in Ireland. Design: A qualitative descriptive research study was conducted, involving focus group interviews. Setting/participants: Purposive sampling was used to recruit 12 student speech and language therapists from one university site for this study. Undergraduate second, third and fourth year students were eligible for inclusion. Results: This study revealed that undergraduate student speech and language therapists collectively agree that there is a role for speech and language therapy in palliative care. Although students acknowledged that speech and language therapists can make a positive difference to patients’ lives, and academic lectures were positively received, insufficient exposure to palliative care has resulted in fear, uncertainty and a lack of confidence amongst student speech and language therapists. Conclusions: A greater emphasis on palliative care is needed in undergraduate speech and language therapy education to ensure confidence and competency development. An exploration of student speech and language therapists’ experiences in a specialist palliative care unit would be advantageous to determine the appropriateness of this setting for clinical placements.

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