ABSTRACT
Purpose
To analyze the difficulties of speech-language therapists regarding speech-language intervention in patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study with 74 Brazilian speech-language therapists. The professionals were invited through the social networks to respond an online questionnaire with open and closed questions about their professional performance with patients with neurodegenerative diseases. We included only speech-language therapists who work within the Brazilian territory and who attend, or have attended, individuals with neurodegenerative diseases. Descriptive and inferential analysis of the data was performed. Mann-Whitney U, Chi-square and Fisher Exact tests were used.
Results
The greatest difficulties encountered in the care of patients with neurodegenerative diseases were: difficulty in caregiver adhering to orientations (52.7%), lack of communication among professionals of the team for interdisciplinary care (52.7%), and late arrival for evaluation (50%). The difficulty of patient adherence to speech-language therapist’s orientations (p=0.015) and difficulty related to communication failure among professionals for interdisciplinary care (p=0.036) were associated with shorter time of profession. However, the difficulty of adherence of the caregiver to orientations was associated with non-interdisciplinary teams (p=0.014).
Conclusion
The lack of efficient communication in multiprofessional team, the non-adherence of the caregivers and the late arrival of the individual for speech-language assessment, together with the lack of knowledge about the possibilities of speech-language therapy, were the main obstacles faced by professionals. The time of profession was the main variable associated with difficulties in the work of the speech-language therapists that attend patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
Keywords:
Degenerative diseases; Speech language; Interdisciplinary communication; Multiprofessional team; Professional training
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