TY - JOUR
T1 - Survey of usual practice
T2 - Dysphagia therapy in head and neck cancer patients
AU - Krisciunas, Gintas P.
AU - Sokoloff, William
AU - Stepas, Katherine
AU - Langmore, Susan E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by a grant from the NIH/NCI (No. RO1CA120950-04).
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - There is no standardized dysphagia therapy for head and neck cancer patients and scant evidence to support any particular protocol, leaving institutions and individual speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to determine their own protocols based on "typical" practices or anecdotal evidence. To gain an understanding of current usual practices, a national internet-based survey was developed and disseminated to SLPs who treat head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. From a random sample of 4,000 ASHA SID13 members, 1,931 fit the inclusion criteria, and 759 complete responses were recorded for a 39.3 % response rate. Results were analyzed by institution type as well as by individual clinical experience. While some interesting trends emerged from the data, a lack of uniformity and consensus regarding best practices was apparent. This is undoubtedly due to a paucity of research adequately addressing the efficacy of any one therapy for dysphagia in the HNC population.
AB - There is no standardized dysphagia therapy for head and neck cancer patients and scant evidence to support any particular protocol, leaving institutions and individual speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to determine their own protocols based on "typical" practices or anecdotal evidence. To gain an understanding of current usual practices, a national internet-based survey was developed and disseminated to SLPs who treat head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. From a random sample of 4,000 ASHA SID13 members, 1,931 fit the inclusion criteria, and 759 complete responses were recorded for a 39.3 % response rate. Results were analyzed by institution type as well as by individual clinical experience. While some interesting trends emerged from the data, a lack of uniformity and consensus regarding best practices was apparent. This is undoubtedly due to a paucity of research adequately addressing the efficacy of any one therapy for dysphagia in the HNC population.
KW - Deglutition
KW - Deglutition disorders
KW - Dysphagia therapy
KW - Head and neck cancer
KW - Usual care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876291781&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84876291781&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00455-012-9404-2
DO - 10.1007/s00455-012-9404-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 22456699
AN - SCOPUS:84876291781
SN - 0179-051X
VL - 27
SP - 538
EP - 549
JO - Dysphagia
JF - Dysphagia
IS - 4
ER -
