A qualitative study on experiences and needs of language sample analysis by speech-language pathologists: Focused on patients with acquired neurogenic language disorders

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the opinions of the language sample analysis of patients with acquired neurogenic language disorder by experts in clinical or educational fields through qualitative research methods based on the grounded theory. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 speech language-pathologists who had experience in evaluating and managing adult patients and analyzed the data according to the procedures of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Results: Through the axial coding, the central theme that was revealed was 'although the importance of language analysis is recognized, it has not been actively implemented in the clinical field'. The causal conditions of this phenomenon were 'strengths and limitations of language analysis exist', 'insufficient education and experience for analysis', and 'difficulties associated with conducting language analysis'. 'Poor surroundings for language analysis' and 'less utilization of results' functioned as contextual conditions. The examples of speech language pathologists' action/interaction strategy were 'simple analysis of the utterances collected in the formal tests', 'no language analysis', and 'additional analysis conducted for some cases'. The intervening conditions were 'differences in views on the value of language analysis among adult subjects' and 'differences in experience and perception of various technology applications related to analysis'. The action/interaction consequences towards the phenomenon were 'demands for criteria and standard', 'needs to support multiple aspects related to language analysis', and 'recognition of limitation and reality compliance'. Conclusion: Through this study, we observed speech-language pathologists' current state, difficulties, and examined solutions regarding language analysis in the clinical setting.