The perspectives of Australian speech pathologists in providing evidence‐based practices to children with autism

• Published in: International journal of language & communication disorders 2022-11, Vol.57 (6), p.1229-1243
• Main Authors: Sandham, Victoria, Hill, Anne E., Hinchliffe, Fiona
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Allied Health Personnel; Australia; Autism; autism spectrum disorder; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Autistic Disorder - therapy; Barriers; Beliefs; Child; Children; Clinical medicine; Collegiality; Communication; Data collection; Diversity; Evidence Based Practice; Focus groups; Foreign Countries; Humans; Information Seeking; Intervention; knowledge translation; Outcomes of Treatment; Pathologists; Patients; Phenomenology; professional practice; Reflective practice; Research Report; Research Reports; Self Efficacy; Speech; Speech Language Pathology; Speech perception; Speech Therapy; Speech-language pathologists; Theory Practice Relationship
• ISSN: 1368-2822; 1460-6984
• DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12736

Background Bridging the research–practice gap in autism communication services is an identified priority for improving services. Limited research has investigated the views of practitioners regarding this research–practice gap. Investigation of the barriers experienced and facilitators used in clinical practice may assist to identify scalable and sustainable strategies to increase use of evidence‐based practices (EBPs) in the delivery of communication services to children with autism. Aims To elucidate how Australian speech pathologists engage with external evidence and how communication outcomes are measured to demonstrate the effectiveness of service provision to children with autism. Methods & Procedures A total of 15 Australian speech pathologists, with experience ranging from less than 1 to more than 16 years, participated in three focus groups. Data from focus groups were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis within an interpretive phenomenological paradigm. Outcomes & Results Seven themes were identified. Participants reported on the diversity of individuals with autism, their experiences of resource constraints, seeking collegial advice and accessing a diverse range of evidence sources, the role of clinical expertise in translating evidence to practice, the barriers experienced in outcome measurement and use of stakeholders to facilitate data collection to demonstrate outcomes. Conclusions & Implications Individual practitioner skill and beliefs are facilitators to translating research to practice. Interventions to improve clinician use of EBP should address the skill and belief barriers, aiming to increase a clinician's EBP self‐efficacy and increasing their expectation that investing in EBP activities will result in improved services for children with autism. Modelling and reflective practice are two strategies that may have an application as interventions to improve EBP use in clinical practice. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject Constrained resources, especially lack of time, is a barrier to routine uptake of best available evidence in clinical services for children with autism. What this paper adds to existing knowledge In this study, the perception that speech pathologists lacked time to engage in EBP activities was linked with the speech pathologist's research skill and their beliefs about the benefits of engaging in EBP. Speech Pathologists reported using a range of information sources, as “evidence” but also rep