Diversity of Research Participant Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in Communication Sciences and Disorders: A Systematic Review and Quantitative Synthesis of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Publications in 2020.
Ryan A Millager, Jacob I Feldman, Zachary J Williams and 10 others
PMID 38912383WHAT IT FOUND
Only 33.7% of ASHA journal articles in 2020 reported race, and only 13.8% reported ethnicity.
When race was reported, White participants were 76.1% of samples, above the US census figure of 61.6%.
Key findings
01Only 33.7% of included articles reported participant race, and only 13.8% reported participant ethnicity.
02Among studies reporting race, the typical proportion of White participants was 76.1%, compared with 61.6% in the US census.
03Where gender was reported, 64.7% of studies did not further consider sex or gender; where race was reported, 67.2% did not further consider race or ethnicity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The review covered only one year, 2020, and only ASHA journals, so it cannot show whether reporting improved or worsened over time or whether other journals report differently. Most articles did not report race or ethnicity, so the review cannot give a reliable full picture of who participated in CSD research. The review collapsed sex and gender into one gender variable because many articles used the terms unclearly, which can hide whether the data describe biology, identity, or both. The comparison with US census data is imperfect because census categories do not match all gender identities, and census proportions do not show how common communication disorders are in each group. The review did not assess study quality, sample size adequacy, recruitment catchment areas, socioeconomic status, disability status, health care access, primary language, housing, or environment. Intercoder agreement was not perfect for all articles, and some demographic definitions were inconsistent across studies.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ASHA research is representative of all patients in speech-language pathology or audiology. The review found low reporting of race and ethnicity, and it compared research participants with the general US census rather than with the prevalence of communication disorders.