The Effect of Clinician-Related Variables on Decision-Making in Dysphagia Practice

Treatment recommendations within dysphagia management are highly variable. Increasing evidence to support restorative treatment approaches is leading to increased use of these approaches by dysphagia clinicians. While all decision-makers are subject to biases in their thinking, it is important that dysphagia clinicians make treatment decisions based on evidence in order to support the best outcomes for their patients. An online survey was distributed to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) participating in American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) listservs or Montana Speech and Hearing Association (MSHA) membership. Ninety-three SLPs currently treating swallowing disorders participated. Outcome measures included 1) descriptive measures of participant demographics, 2) descriptive measures of strategy recommendations made following review of MBS reports in low and high pathophysiology conditions, 3) correlation analysis measuring relationship between clinician demographic variables and treatment strategy type, and 4) chi-square analysis comparing compensatory and restorative treatment strategy selection within each condition. Results did not indicate a relationship between clinician related variables and treatment recommendation type. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed