JCPSLP Vol 23 Issue 2 2021

120

100

80

60

40

Frequency of responses (n)

20

0

drinking techniques

thickener

sensory modification

free water

postural 45˚ recline

syringe drinking

alternative delivery

Strategy

very good

good

ok

poor

very poor

Figure 4. Self-reported knowledge of the evidence across the seven strategies

250

200

150

100

Frequency of responses (n)

50

0

drinking techniques

thickener

sensory modification

free water

postural 45˚ recline

syringe drinking

alternative delivery

Strategy

Recommended always or often

skills very good or good knowledge of the EB very good or good

Figure 5. Comparison of frequently recommended strategies to self-rated clinical skills and knowledge of the evidence base

Exploring the relationship between strategy use, skills and knowledge Relative patterns were explored between the most frequently recommended strategies and then with participants’ self-rating of their skills and knowledge of the evidence base (Figure 5). The three most frequently recommended strategies–alternative delivery, drinking techniques, thickener–were also frequently rated by SLPs as very good or good in terms of skills and knowledge of evidence. In addition to this, SLPs rated their skills and knowledge of evidence as poor or very poor with the two

least frequently used strategies–45˚ postural tilt and syringe drinking. See Figure 4 for a summary of these relationships. Discussion Frequency of recommended drinking strategies The survey responses from a large number of UK SLPs with varied years of experience among a range of different caseloads and clinical settings provides important empirical data for dysphagia practice. The findings showed that three

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JCPSLP Volume 23, Number 2 2021

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology