What does a family who is “engaged” in early intervention look like? Perspectives of Australian speech-language pathologists

Abstract

Purpose

To build a description of what engagement in early speech-language pathology intervention looks like, by exploring speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) perceptions of (1) what characteristics best describe families who are “engaged” in early speech-language pathology intervention and (2) which characteristics are most important for engagement.

Method

Group concept mapping, a participatory mixed-methods research approach, was used to represent the perspectives of Australian SLPs working with children aged 0–8 years and their families in early intervention. Using Concept Systems software, participants: (1) brainstormed responses to a focus question (n = 58); (2) grouped statements into categories (n = 34); and (3) rated the importance of each statement (n = 29).

Result

SLPs identified 108 characteristics of engagement in early speech-language pathology intervention, which were grouped into seven key concepts: (1) the family is reliable and ready for therapy; (2) the family has an open, honest relationship with the SLP; (3) the family actively participates and takes initiative; (4) the family works in partnership to plan and set goals together; (5) the family sees and celebrates progress; (6) the family invests in intervention at home; and (7) the family understands intervention and advocates for their child. All aspects of engagement were considered important by participants, with the family-SLP relationship and families continuing to invest in intervention at home being rated most highly.

Conclusion

Results present a picture of engagement which has been informed by stakeholders, and which goes beyond aspects of engagement which have previously been identified in the literature. Families who are engaged in early speech-language pathology intervention are actively invested and involved in intervention in various ways, both inside and outside the clinic room.

Keywords:

• early intervention
• engagement
• speech-language pathology
• family-centred care

Acknowledgements

The research team would like to thank SLPs who participated in this study. The research for this paper was conducted as part of the first author’s doctoral dissertation, which is funded by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2020.1784279