This research study is being led by @sallymorganslt. This SPECIAL FEATURE #ReSNetSLT tweetchat will be led by Sally, supported by other members of Team ReSNetSLT.
We are running this on #swallowaware2020 day, as part of national Nutrition and Hydration week @NHWeek – a really exciting opportunity for you to join a research study LIVE online.
Do you work with or have experience with children, young people or adults with a neurodevelopmental disability (learning disability and or physical impairment) who have dysphagia and require mealtime assistance?
- Are you over 18 years of age?
- If so we need your knowledge and skills.
- Please join our discussions and share your experiences of how you support people who provide mealtime assistance.
(Download the flyer below and share with colleagues to spread the word and invite more people to join this discussion)
There is little known about how Speech & Language Therapists (SLTs) work with people with neurodevelopmental disabilities and dysphagia.
We do have some research suggesting the areas of advice or recommendations targeted and also some best practice guidance.
Some studies indicate that carers do not always follow the advice they are given, with a variety of reasons for this suggested.
“Dysphagia management approaches can be described under certain headings. Medical & surgical management, e.g. botox; Developmental/Rehabilitation, e.g. exercises; and Compensatory, e.g. texture modification, positioning.”
The chat will focus on these four questions:
- Which approaches (Medical, Developmental/rehabilitation, Compensatory or others) do SLTs recommend when working with people with neurodisability who need mealtime assistance and why/why not?
- SLTs often work through others. What strategies do SLTs use with those who provide mealtime assistance (paid or unpaid) to support them to understand & follow your recommendations?
- Do you find that people who provide mealtime assistance follow the SLT recommendations? How do you know?
- In your opinion, why do they follow/not follow the advice?
This Twitter chat is being used as a focus group to gather views on SLT practice.
Encouraging people to take part in research including focus groups can be difficult within their busy lives. Offering a focus group online has advantages for ensuring a range of people can take part without the difficulties of travel and so may gather wider views.
After the chat all the Tweets will be collated and then analysed to determine if there are common themes to people’s experience, practice, opinions and feelings. The analysis will be published and used to support developing a questionnaire to explore this area in more detail with more participants.
Your tweets will be public and can be viewed by all. Please see ReSNetSLT information about how contributions to all chats are treated here: https://resnetslt.com/tweetchats/
This Twitter chat focus group is part of a research project that has been granted ethical approval by City, University of London LCS Proportionate Review Committee.
This chat will be further analysed as part of this research project.
During the chat, or up to 2 weeks after, you will be able to provide some general information about yourself and choose whether your Tweets can be shared more widely once the data has been published – using this link .
If you do NOT wish your Tweets to be used and analysed in this way then you will be able to opt out using the same link during the chat or up to 2 weeks after the chat.
I hope you’ll join us for this chat. Hoping we can get a wide range of experience and views during the hour! DOWNLOAD the event flyer below (right click on the image)
