Cronin, A., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2020, in press February). Applying the ICF-CY to expert SLPs’ practice with toddlers with cleft palate speech. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal.
It forms part of Anna's PhD. Congratulations Anna!
Here is the abstract:
Objective: To evaluate how the practice of specialist speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working with young children with cleft palate ± cleft lip (CP±L) maps onto the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-CY) and consider the functionality of the categories of the ICF-CY for this specialist area of practice.
Design: Cross-sectional, qualitative study.
Setting: Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with SLPs working in tertiary level hospitals, universities, private and public clinics.
Participants: Six specialist SLPs with 17-39 years of experience working with young children with CP±L as researchers and clinicians in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, and USA.
Main Outcome Measure(s): Specialists’ practices were captured using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Data collected were analyzed by directed content analysis applying the ICF-CY coding schema.
Results: In total 4,077 data points were coded. Most mapped onto Body Structures (684, 16.8%), Body Functions (906, 22.2%) and Environmental Factors (1626, 39.9%). A “best fit” approach was taken to topics that did not map exactly onto categories of the ICF-CY (e.g., velopharyngeal insufficiency; VPI); however, there was not always an ideally suitable category available.
Conclusions: The current study revealed challenges in categorizing key aspects of practice with children with CP±L, including collaboration with parents and significant others, specificity around speech, language and articulation, and the different types of VPI within the ICF-CY. Therefore, future discussion around how best to use the framework with children with CP±L is needed.
