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Purpose: This study explored the predictors of the outcomes of turnover and occupation attrition intentions for speech-language pathologists. The researchers examined the mediating effects of job satisfaction and strain on the relationship between stress and the latter outcomes. Additionally, the researchers examined the importance of embeddedness in predicting turnover intentions after accounting for stress, strain and job satisfaction. Method: An online questionnaire was used to explore turnover and attrition intentions in 293 Australian speech–language pathologists. Result: Job satisfaction contributed to a significant indirect effect on the stress and turnover intention relationship, however strain did not. There was a significant direct effect between stress and turnover intention after accounting for covariates. Embeddedness and the perceived availability of alternative jobs were also found to be significant predictors of turnover intentions. The mediating model used to predict turnover intentions also predicted occupation attrition intentions. The effect of stress on occupation attrition intentions was indirect in nature, the direct effect negated by mediating variables. Qualitative data provided complementary evidence to the quantitative model. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the proposed parsimonious model adequately captures predictors of speech–language pathologists' turnover and occupation attrition intentions. Workplaces and the profession may wish to consider these retention factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Discourse in adults with aphasia is increasingly the focus of assessment and therapy research. A broad range of measures is available to describe discourse, but very limited information is available on their psychometric properties. As a result, the quality of these measures is unknown, and there is very little evidence to motivate the choice of one measure over another. Aims: To explore the quality of a range of discourse measures, targeting sentence structure, coherence, story structure and cohesion. Quality was evaluated in terms of the psychometric properties of acceptability (data completeness and skewness), reliability (inter‐ and intra‐rater), and validity (content, convergent, discriminant and known groups). Methods & Procedures: Participants with chronic mild‐to‐moderate aphasia were recruited from community groups. They produced a range of discourses which were grouped into Cinderella and everyday discourses. Discourses were then transcribed orthographically and analyzed using macro‐ and microlinguistic measures (Story Grammar, Topic Coherence, Local Coherence, Reference Chains and Predicate Argument Structure—PAS). Data were evaluated against standard predetermined criteria to ascertain the psychometric quality of the measures. Outcomes & Results: A total of 17 participants took part in the study. All measures had high levels of acceptability, inter‐ and intra‐rater reliability, and had good content validity, as they could be related to a level of the theoretical model of discourse production. For convergent validity, as expected, 8/10 measures correlated with the Western Aphasia Battery—Revised (WAB‐R) spontaneous speech scores, and 7/10 measures correlated with the Kissing and Dancing Test (KDT) scores (r ≥ 0.3), giving an overall positive rating for construct validity. For discriminant validity, as predicted, all measures had low correlations with Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM) and WAB‐R Auditory Verbal Comprehension scores (r < 0.3), giving an overall positive rating for construct validity. Finally, for known groups validity, all measures indicated a difference between speakers with mild and moderate aphasia except for the Local Coherence measures. Overall, Story Grammar, Topic Coherence, Reference Chains and PAS emerged as the strongest measures in the current study because they achieved the predetermined thresholds for quality in terms of each of the psychometric parameters profiled. Conclusions & Implications: The current study is the first to psychometrically profile measures of discourse in aphasia. It contributes to the field by identifying Story Grammar, Topic Coherence, Reference Chains and PAS as the most psychometrically robust discourse measures yet profiled with speakers with aphasia. Until further data are available indicating the strength of other discourse measures, caution should be applied when using them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Speech pathologists have a pivotal role in palliative care, assisting patients with swallowing and communication disorders, yet very little is known about the preparedness of speech pathologists to work in this field. Aims: To investigate the preparedness of speech pathologists for working in palliative care. The term ‘palliative care’ was viewed as an encompassing umbrella term incorporating the management/reduction of symptoms and improvement in a person's quality of life at any point of the disease progression. Methods & Procedures: Participants were Australian‐trained speech pathologists who provided adult palliative care services. An online questionnaire was used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data from practising speech pathologists. Qualitative data were analysed and interpreted using conventional content analysis. Descriptive statistics were analysed via the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows Version 22. Non‐parametric tests (chi‐square and Mann–Whitney U‐test) were used for further analysis. Outcomes & Results: The majority (70%) of participants indicated that their university training did not prepare them to practice in palliative care. Participants who received palliative care education at the tertiary level were significantly more prepared to work with palliative patients than those who had not; however, only a minority (27%) had received such training. Just over half (57%) reported having completed post‐university professional development in palliative care. The speech pathologist's role in palliative care was also highlighted, with speech pathologists outlining their contribution to the assessment of patients’ communication and swallowing abilities. In addition, recommendations for palliative care content to be incorporated into university curriculum were suggested. Conclusions & Implications: Speech pathologists can make important contributions to end‐of‐life care, but there is much scope for improving the availability and quality of university and post‐university palliative care training opportunities so that people receiving palliative care are best supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A variety of dysphagia management options are available for the treatment of dysphagia following a stroke, however, it is unknown which of these approaches are most commonly utilised by Australian speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and whether particular factors influence decision-making. Method: The aim of this study was to investigate, through an online survey, the treatment practices of SLPs in Australia for the treatment of dysphagia post-stroke and identify the factors influencing treatment decisions. Result: A total of 118 SLPs completed the online survey. Descriptive statistics identified large variability in the dysphagia treatments utilised, with all 24 therapies listed in the online survey reported as being routinely used. Compensatory therapies were ranked as being utilised more frequently than rehabilitative approaches, with six of the seven highly utilised therapies being compensatory in nature. A client’s cognitive capacity was the most prominent factor influencing SLPs’ treatment decisions. Conclusion: This study provides insight into the practices of SLPs in Australia for the treatment of dysphagia following stroke and discusses potential for shifts in practice. It highlights the complexity involved in the decision-making process and that clinicians consider evidence, as well as client, clinician and service factors, when selecting between the range of options available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary objective: To further examine the proposed relationship between executive impairments in inhibitory control and social communication difficulties reflecting poor inhibition following TBI. Method: Inhibitory control was assessed in 14 adults with TBI on the Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT). Errors on Part B (failed inhibition) and Part B-Part A response latencies (delayed inhibition) were examined. A relative, friend or frequent communication partner of each participant with TBI completed the La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ) on the communication difficulties of the person with TBI. The Inhibitory Control Factor (ICF) score of the LCQ based on seven items relating to poor inhibition was specifically analysed against performance on the HSCT. Results: Multiple regression analysis indicated that 58% (51% adjusted) of the variance in LCQ ICF scores was accounted for by measures on the HSCT. Only B–A response latencies on the HSCT explained a significant proportion of the variability in LCQ ICF scores. Conclusions: Reduced inhibition speed may more strongly contribute to disinhibited communication behaviours than failures in inhibition. These findings contribute to understanding of the cognitive processes underlying social communication and have the potential to support and inform the use and development of management practices for individuals following TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A significant body of evidence from cross-linguistic and developmental studies converges to suggest that co-speech iconic gesture mirrors language. This paper aims to identify whether gesture reflects impaired spoken language in a similar way. Twenty-nine people with aphasia (PWA) and 29 neurologically healthy control participants (NHPs) produced a narrative discourse, retelling the story of a cartoon video. Gesture and language were analysed in terms of semantic content and structure for two key motion events. The aphasic data showed an influence on gesture from lexical choices but no corresponding clausal influence. Both the groups produced gesture that matched the semantics of the spoken language and gesture that did not, although there was one particular gesture–language mismatch (semantically “light” verbs paired with semantically richer gesture) that typified the PWA narratives. These results indicate that gesture is both closely related to spoken language impairment and compensatory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Conveying instructions is an everyday use of language, and gestures are likely to be a key feature of this. Although co-speech iconic gestures are tightly integrated with language, and people with aphasia (PWA) produce procedural discourses impaired at a linguistic level, no previous studies have investigated how PWA use co-speech iconic gestures in these contexts. Aims: This study investigated how PWA communicated meaning using gesture and language in procedural discourses, compared with neurologically healthy people (NHP). We aimed to identify the relative relationship of gesture and speech, in the context of impaired language, both overall and in individual events. Methods & Procedures: Twenty-nine PWA and 29 NHP produced two procedural discourses. The structure and semantic content of language of the whole discourses were analysed through predicate argument structure and spatial motor terms, and gestures were analysed for frequency and semantic form. Gesture and language were analysed in two key events, to determine the relative information presented in each modality. Outcomes & Results: PWA and NHP used similar frequencies and forms of gestures, although PWA used syntactically simpler language and fewer spatial words. This meant, overall, relatively more information was present in PWA gesture. This finding was also reflected in the key events, where PWA used gestures conveying rich semantic information alongside semantically impoverished language more often than NHP. Conclusions: PWA gestures, containing semantic information omitted from the concurrent speech, may help listeners with meaning when language is impaired. This finding indicates gesture should be included in clinical assessments of meaning-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]