Background: After total laryngectomy, surgical voice restoration is used to establish communication via tracheoesophageal voice prosthesis. Once voice is established, there is a paucity of information on what speech and language therapists (SLTs) should do to improve tracheoesophageal voice quality to ensure functional communication. No existing surveys or studies investigate this specific question. There is also a disconnect between guidelines, knowledge and clinical practice, whereby clinical guidelines stipulate the requirement for SLT intervention, but do not detail what this entails in the rehabilitation context. Aims: (1) To advance understanding of current clinical practice beyond voice prosthesis management and care. (2) To explore what approaches are implemented in clinical practice across the UK and Republic of Ireland to rehabilitate tracheoesophageal voice. (3) To investigate the barriers and facilitators to provision of tracheoesophageal voice therapy. Methods & Procedures: A self-administered 10-min online survey was developed using Qualtrics software and piloted before dissemination. Survey development was informed by the Behaviour Change Wheel to identify barriers, facilitators and additional factors contributing to SLTs' provision of voice therapy to tracheoesophageal speakers. The survey was disseminated via social media and professional networks. Eligibility criteria included SLTs with at least one year post-registration experience and with experience of working with laryngectomy in the past 5 years. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse closed answer questions. Open question responses were analysed using content analysis. Outcomes & Results: The survey received 147 responses. Participants were representative of the head and neck cancer SLT workforce. SLTs believe that tracheoesophageal voice therapy is an important aspect of laryngectomy rehabilitation; however, there was a lack of knowledge about therapy approaches and This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Purpose of reviewMaking research impactful is becoming a vital part of research proposal development. Funding bodies now require evidence of clear dissemination strategies that demonstrate achievable broad impact from proposed studies. This review addresses what impact means in practice and how to achieve it.Recent findingsResearch impact is defined as making real change in the real world. The review explores different kinds of impact, why it is important, the challenges faced, and planning for impact. Creative ways in which impact may be achieved, specifically through storytelling, utilizing infographics and animations are explored. The impact of social media platforms to maximize reach of potential research, alongside measuring impact is discussed.SummaryResearchers may need to develop new skills, to create impactful research outputs for global dissemination across several social media platforms. By utilizing methods that maximize engagement with target audiences, translating and implementing quality evidence into clinical practice may be achieved more rapidly.
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