Effects of group speech-language pathology actions related to teachers’ vocal health: an integrative literature review

Abstract

Objective: to conduct an integrative literature review on the effect of group speech-language pathology actions related to teachers’ vocal health, and to identify, evaluate and discuss therapeutic approaches, assessment instruments, duration of actions, number of meetings, and their effectiveness, from articles published between 2007 and 2017. Methods: this research was conducted using the “voice”, “faculty”, “psychotherapy group” and “voice training” descriptors, and their corresponding descriptors in Portuguese, using the databases: LILACS, SciELO and PubMed. Results: the search resulted in 1,944 papers. After the selection, 9 studies fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Conclusion: the group speech-language pathology actions related to teachers’ vocal health have an effect on the voice-related quality of life, reducing the vocal and emotional symptoms caused by work-related factors. The eclectic therapeutic approach was the most used one, and there were variations in the duration of actions and number of meetings among the studies. In terms of assessment instruments, the self-assessment of voice and the auditory-perceptual analysis were the most highlighted ones. Furthermore, most studies considered the results of their actions as effective.

Salutogenic resources for promoting teachers’ vocal health

“…Furthermore, studies dealing with the vocal health theme, in its minority, have sought to assess the effects of actions to promote and prevent voice disorders among teachers, with the emphasis being directed to voice assessments through vocal self-assessment and auditory-perceptual analysis 36 . Therefore, salutogenesis can be the driving force to guide actions with an emphasis on voice, according to the health promotion strategies contemplated in the Ottawa Charter 1 .…”