The perspectives of Australian speech pathologists in providing evidence-based practices to children with autism.
Victoria Sandham, Anne E Hill, Fiona Hinchliffe
PMID 35674484WHAT IT FOUND
Australian speech pathologists working in private practice rarely read journal articles, citing time and cost.
They rely heavily on colleagues, workshops, and social media for evidence, often accepting imperfect sources. Outcome measurement is hindered by client diversity and poor stakeholder collaboration, with data collection frequently delegated to parents and teachers.
Key findings
01Clinicians report significant barriers to accessing peer-reviewed research, including the financial cost of articles and the time required for database searching, leading them to rely on secondary sources like colleagues and social media.
02Translating research into practice is difficult because the diversity of children with autism makes standardized interventions hard to replicate, and research outcome measures often do not reflect functional communication changes.
03Outcome measurement is impeded by internal barriers (clinician confidence, parent passivity) and external resource constraints, leading clinicians to depend on stakeholder relationships for data collection.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited largely from South East Queensland, limiting the transferability of findings to other Australian regions or globally. The focus group questions were not originally designed within an implementation science framework, which may have limited the depth of specific behavioral constructs explored. The sample size was small (15 participants), and recruitment was by convenience, which may introduce selection bias towards those with an interest in the topic.
Declared interests
The work was supported by a Speech Pathology Australia New Researcher Grant 2017. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high reliance on colleagues and social media as a failure of professional diligence. The study suggests this is a rational adaptation to significant time and financial constraints in private practice, where primary research is often inaccessible or not clinically translatable.