Parent engagement in Speech and Language Therapy V 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of parent perspectives on how the parent-Speech and Language Therapist interaction facilitates parental engagement with the Speech and Language Therapy Service for children with long term speech, language and communication needs.
IRAS ID
226810
Contact name
Tracey Parkin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Plymouth
Duration of Study in the UK
years, 8 months, days
Research summary
Title: An exploration of parent perspectives on how the parent-Speech and Language Therapist interaction facilitates parental engagement with the Speech and Language Therapy Service for children with long term speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
Speech and Language Therapists (SALTs) work closely with parents to engage them in making decisions about therapy, carrying out therapy at home and adapting the way they communicate with their child. The more that parents are engaged in speech and language therapy (SLT) the better the outcomes are for their children (James, 2011). Parental engagement is achieved through the parent-SALT interaction however there is very little research looking at this. Research that has investigated the parent-SALT interaction has involved very young children receiving early intervention SLT (Glowgowska and Campbell, 2000, Pappas et al., 2015, Auert et al., 2012). There is no research considering the parent-SALT interaction for older children with long term speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The aim of this study is to explore from the parents’ perspective how the parent-SALT interaction facilitates engagement with SLT for children with long term SLCN. Parents’ perspectives will be explored through individual semi-structured interviews with twelve parents of children with long term SLCN living in Cornwall. The findings will yield rich descriptions of what parents value about the parent-SALT interaction and how this motivates them to engage with SLT. Suggested implications for practice will be on how SALTs can best work with parents to optimise their engagement with SLT. Increased parental engagement will lead to improved outcomes for children with SLCN.
This research is being undertaken as part of a National Institute of Health Research funded Masters in Clinical Research at Plymouth University.REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/SW/0143
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion