Aspirations for a website to support families’ active waiting for speech-language pathology

Abstract

Purpose: Children sometimes wait 12 months or longer to access speech-language pathology services. Information on websites may support families’ active waiting for speech-language pathology; however, there are few user-friendly, evidence-based websites specifically designed for children and families for this purpose. The current study aimed to: (1) ascertain appropriate website content, format, features and functions; (2) evaluate the quality of existing speech and language sites and (3) obtain feedback on a prototype website.

Method: A three-stage explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Stage 1 involved 119 participants completing an online questionnaire recommending website content, format, features and functions. Stage 2 involved evaluating the quality of 25 online sites about children’s speech and language. Stage 3 involved focus groups with 16 participants to explore aspirations and feedback on a website to support active waiting.

Result: Participants wanted information about typical development and services to access while waiting; strategies to stimulate children’s speech and language development; simple web architecture; and high readability. High scoring sites contained evidence-based information from trustworthy sources. Strategies from the theory of preparative waiting arose in the focus groups.

Conclusion: Participants considered easily identifiable, trustworthy sources of information, and user-friendly strategies and resources to be important on a website to support active waiting for speech-language pathology. The theory of preparative waiting may be a viable framework informing waiting for speech-language pathology for children with speech and language difficulties.

Keywords:

• Waiting
• speech
• language
• children
• parents
• website

Notes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Sites refers to websites and mobiles applications (apps).

2 The primary intent was to identify sites focussed on children with speech and language difficulties of unknown causes. However, if sites were designed for children with known causes for their speech and language difficulties or children with complex communication and additional developmental needs, this was not an exclusionary factor.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a Charles Sturt University Higher Degree by Research Scholarship and Operating Grant awarded to the first author, as well as a NSW Health Translational Research Grants Scheme Grant awarded to Emily Davis, Sharynne McLeod, Katrina Rohr, Angela Roberts, Nicole McGill, and Katherine Miller.