PERCEPTION OF ACADEMIC SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST FROM ARGENTINA AND CHILE ON EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND GOALS

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) has been developed for clinical purposes, but it has implications in the field of teaching carried out by speech language pathologists (SLP’s). This research aims to visualize the perceptions of academic SLP´s in Argentina and Chile regarding EBP, exploring the conceptions about the critical elements of the concept, the sources consulted by teaching SLPs in the information search process and describing the situations in which they use EBP.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Qualitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study with a constructivist paradigm. It is developed with an empirical phenomenological design, with a non-probabilistic and for convenience sampling. The sample consisted of 7 SLPs, 2 men and 5 women, from Argentina and Chile. Semi-structured interviews were conducted.

RESULTS

From the analysis of the interviews, the following thematic axes emerged: conceptions regarding the term EBP, sources consulted by academic speech therapy professionals, perception of barriers to accessing EBP, situations in which SLP´s perceive that they are using EBP, and transmission of EBP to students.

CONCLUSIONS

Speech-language pathologists recognize the importance of EBP, perceive its use when searching for reliable information and transmit this practice to their students in teaching. However, it is necessary to deepen the concept of EBP at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, so that it becomes a common practice in clinical decision making.