Measuring Changes in Aphasia Rehabilitation - What Makes it Harder and What Makes it Easier for Speech Pathologists?
What did the researchers aim to find out?
What do speech pathologists in Australia use to measure change or improvements for people with aphasia?
What outcome measures (tools or tests or assessments) do they use?
What makes it easier and what makes it harder for speech pathologists to use outcome measures?
What type of research was done?
Online survey
Results of the research
All speech pathologists reported using outcome measures.
More than 80 different outcome measures were used by speech pathologists.
Speech pathologists most frequently used outcomes measures to measure changes in language and communication.
Psychological changes, quality of life changes and patient-reported changes were not frequently measured.
The most commonly used outcome measures were:
- Western Aphasia Battery Revised (WAB-R) - used to measure language
- Therapy Outcome Measures (TOMs)/Australian Therapy Outcome Measures (Aus-TOMS) - used to measure communication, participation, quality of life
- Goal Attainment Scaling - used to measure psychological outcomes, family/carer outcomes
Key barriers to using outcome measures (things that made it harder) related mostly to the speech pathologists’ workplaces. Barriers included lack of structure and support from their workplace to use outcome measures. Lack of time and resources, and the need for more training were also listed.
Key facilitators (things that made it easier) related to speech pathologists believing that outcome measures are important and part of their job.
Why was the research done?
To learn more about what outcome measures speech pathologists use. To learn more about what makes it easier and harder for speech pathologists to use outcome measures. This research is important because outcome measures help speech pathologists to measure changes and make decisions about how to provide the best care for people with aphasia.
What does the research mean for me and others?
Outcome measures are an important way to measure changes. They can be used to measure changes in language, communication, quality of life, participation in life, and psychological/emotional well-being. This research helped us learn more about how speech pathologists are using outcome measures. This information will inform future research to improve how speech pathologists use outcome measures.
Talk to your speech pathologist if you want to learn more about measuring changes for you as an individual.
What research methods were used?
Data was collected from an online survey. Responses were described using statistics (counts and percentages).
How to obtain the treatment detailed in the research?
No treatment was included in this research.
Background information on the research topic
Speech pathologists use a wide range of outcome measures. Outcome measures might be used to detect changes in language, communication, quality of life, participation in life, and psychological / emotional well-being. Outcome measures are important to help speech pathologists and people with aphasia to measure changes, plan and evaluate therapy, and make decisions about how to provide the best care for people with aphasia. Little is known about what influences the decisions speech pathologists make when using outcome measures. What makes it easier or harder for them to use outcome measures?
Risks related to the research
There were no risks to participants.
Who was allowed to take part in the research?
Speech pathologists needed to be:
- Working in Australia
- Have more than one year of experience working as a speech pathologist
- Speak English
Information about the people who took part
Seventy-four (74) speech pathologists in Australia completed the research.
Most speech pathologists were female (92%)
Most speech pathologists worked in major cities (80%)
Speech pathologists from almost all states in Australia participated. But there were no speech pathologists from Northern Territory.
Speech pathologists worked in Hospitals (including stroke units and inpatient rehabilitation), Community Rehabilitation (including outpatient, day hospital and home based) and Private Practice.
Why was the research done this way?
An online survey allowed a large number of speech pathologists across different areas of Australia to participate. This was an efficient way to do the research.
When was the research done?
2018
Where was the research done?
Australia
Where did the money came from?
There was no funding for this research.
Problems with the research
There were not equal numbers of speech pathologists in major cities and rural areas. There were not equal numbers of speech pathologists working at different workplaces and stages of rehabilitation (acute, inpatient, outpatient).
It would be better to have more speech pathologists included from rural areas and more different workplaces.
Is the research trustworthy?
Yes.
Next steps
Future research might include doing similar research in other countries around the world.
Interviews with speech pathologists could be used to get more detailed information on this topic.
