Communicative Participation in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Concept Elicitation Study.
Eline Alons, Nicole Ter Wal, Margreet R Luinge and 3 others
PMID 40583603WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents and young adults with communication disorders identified school, work, and social interactions as the most difficult participation areas.
Key barriers included the communication partner's willingness to adapt, time pressure, noisy environments, and fatigue.
Key findings
01Participants reported 234 communicative participation situations, with the majority falling under major life areas (school/work) and interpersonal interactions.
02Factors influencing participation were grouped into six categories: person, topic, pace, location, moment, and mode, plus a separate category for compensation techniques.
03Time pressure was a frequently cited negative factor, mentioned by nine participants across different communication disorders.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Small sample size (n=12) with only three adolescents, limiting the generalizability of age-specific findings. No participants with voice disorders were included, despite this being a target population for the eventual measure. Seven of the twelve participants had Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), leading to an over-representation of this diagnosis. The study was conducted in Dutch, and while translated, cultural nuances in communication participation may differ in other settings.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by ZonMw.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this as evidence that a specific intervention improves communicative participation. This is a qualitative study identifying concepts for a future measurement tool, not a trial of treatment efficacy. The small and skewed sample (mostly DLD, few adolescents) means these themes may not represent all communication disorders equally.