Swallowing is the process
during which the source of human nutrition, foods, are transferred to the
digestion system. Swallowing function is composed of oral-preparatory, oral,
pharyngeal, and esophageal phases. Physiological changes in the muscle
structure used for swallowing result in swallowing disorders (dysphagia).
Though not a disease on its own, dysphagia mostly surfaces among the symptoms
of some neurological or neuro-degenerative diseases or it accompanies head-neck
cancers. It is especially prevalent among the geriatric population.
Due to its multi-factorial
nature, dysphagia is a disorder that various health disciplines are interested
in. In many developed countries, speech and language therapists are among the
members of dysphagia teams. SLTs have a leading role within the dysphagia team,
and they establish the coordination among other professionals in the team.
This research aims
to examine post-graduate theses that have been completed on swallowing
disorders in Turkey. A second aim of the present study is to describe the
current status for the profession of Speech and Language Therapy” with respect
to dysphagia.
Document analysis,
a qualitative research method, has been employed for this research. As for data
collection process, the key words “swallowing, dysphagia, and swallowing
disorder” have been sought within the CoHE Thesis Center. This quest produced
75 post-graduate theses carried out between 1979 and 2018. Of all these, the
researchers evaluated 45 theses that are open to access in terms of 11 criteria
(thesis
type, year of issue, the institute/university/department of the thesis,
practice type, participants’ age-range, participants’ diagnostic features,
sample size, assessment tools, swallowing phase).
The results have revealed that
a significant majority of theses on dysphagia in Turkey have been conducted as
part of specialization efforts in medicine, that the highest number of these
theses have been supervised by the departments of Neurology and Physiotherapy
& Rehabilitation, that the main participants are from the adult population,
and that most are confined to the assessment procedure. All the post-graduate
theses conducted within the field of SLT are MA/MSc level studies, 3 of these 4
theses were directed to assessment, only one thesis has tested the efficacy of
a therapy approach, 3 are completed with adult population and one has focused
on swallowing disorder among children.
In conclusion, the results
have shown that a great many of post-graduate theses focusing on assessment and
treatment of swallowing disorders, one of the fields of specialty for speech
and language therapists, have actually been conducted by other disciplines.
Based on the findings, it is possible to suggest that students pursuing their
post-graduate studies at Speech and Language Therapy MA/MSc. Programs, which
grow in number day by day, should be encouraged to direct their research
efforts towards swallowing disorders, especially towards designing studies
focusing on therapy approaches in dysphagia.
Moreover, pediatric dysphagia is also in need of interest by future
researchers.
Keywords
swallowing, dysphagia, swallowing disorder, swallowing difficulty, nutrition, mastication, swallowing assessment
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