Barns nybesök hos logoped för utredning av tal och språk : En studie av vårdnadshavares förväntningar och upplevelser

Sammanfattning: It is important to know patients’ expectations and experiences concerning their medical visits in order to facilitate health care improvements (Socialstyrelsen, 2006; Sveriges kommuner och landsting, n.d.). There are however no studies available dealing with Swedish caretakers’ expectations of their children’s first contact with a speech and language pathologist (SLP), nor studies dealing with whether or not their expectations were met and their experiences of the visit. Thus the aim of the present study was to acquire knowledge about this to determine whether or not the given health care is satisfying and if there are any areas in need of improvement. The material consisted of two questionnaires and a telephone interview. In total, 20 caretakers filled out the questionnaire prior to the visit. Of these, 15 also filled out the questionnaire after the visit and 8 participated in the interview. The results of the study show that the caretakers’ expectations were met to a high degree and that they were highly satisfied with the visit. Moreover, this contentment seemed to coincide with their experience of met expectations. The caretakers expected the SLP to share an evaluation of the child’s speech and language and to give much information (e.g. about the child’s speech and language and communicative adjustments), that the child’s pre-school would be contacted and that the caretakers would be provided with material for home exercises, advice and support. Of great importance for a positive experience was also the SLP’s personality and that there was enough time during the visit. The level of worry and the perceived need for SLP consultations decreased after the visit. The caretakers’ expectations were not met regarding information about the purpose of the testing, the level of difficulty of a specific test, pre-school contacts, material for home exercises, waiting times and support. The information about the presence and level of difficulties as well as a possible diagnosis were not clear to several of the participants. The results show that there are certain aspects that are important in order for first contacts with a SLP to reach a high quality. Among these are the SLP’s approach and that the SLP provides an assessment, good advice and material for home exercises. There are however some areas in need of improvement that should be considered by SLPs, for example regarding waiting times, support, preschool contacts and information about the children’s difficulties. The results and conclusions emanating from this study should however be treated with some caution due to a low number of participants.