Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups opens 2019 with a collection of tutorials exploring a number of approaches for implementing knowledge translation and the contributions that researchers, educators, practitioners, and clients can bring to clinical practice. These articles span the scope of all 19 of ASHA’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in a unique collaboration on a topic of interest to any SIG affiliate.
In the first tutorial, “Implementation Science: Tackling the Research to Practice Gap in Communication Sciences and Disorders,” authors Natalie Douglas and Vanessa Burshnic provide a historical perspective on the importance of implementation science to the professions. They highlight the unique opportunity implementation science offers for both researchers and clinicians to contribute to the evidence base and make specific, direct changes.
Next, Kathryn Yorkston and Carolyn Baylor discuss making a difference on the individual level in “Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures: An Introduction for Clinicians.” They discuss the importance of listening to patients’ perspectives in order to positively influence their quality of life. Yorkston and Baylor go over the development of patient-reported outcomes to help practitioners understand patient values and preferences related to treatment.
Megan A. Morris, Jennifer Oshita, and Michelle Stransky provide the tutorial, “Advancing the Delivery of Communication Sciences and Disorders Services Through Research: The Promise of Health Services Research.” Health services research investigates the use, cost, quality, delivery, organization, and outcomes of services in a real-world setting, requiring collaboration across myriad disciplines and stakeholders. The authors provide an insight into the history, methodology, and potential of the field of health service research.
Fourth, Elaine Mormer and Joel Stevans write about quality improvement practice and research, which is concerned with methodologies designed to introduce and evaluate service improvements in a clinical setting. In “Clinical Quality Improvement and Quality Improvement Research,” the authors expound on the ethical and legal mandate for quality improvement and explore a program to identify previously unrecognized hearing loss in new, older adult inpatients in a hospital setting.
Last, Howard Goldstein, Meaghan McKenna, Robert M. Barker, and Tracye Brown tie the forum together with a look at research–practice partnerships— collaborations between researchers, practitioners, and community members to develop and investigate new approaches. In “Research-Practice Partnership: Application to Implementation of Multitiered System of Supports in Early Childhood Education,” the authors demonstrate these partnerships with a detailed example of the development, implementation, and progress of a partnership in a large school district to determine the levels of support needed for pre-K and Kindergarten students to improve learner readiness and minimize later academic and behavioral difficulties.
You can read the entire forum on bridging knowledge between research and practice here, or read the individual articles below.
Explore the Forum
Douglas, N., & Burshnic, V. (2019). Implementation science: Tackling the research to practice gap in communication sciences and disorders. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_PERS-ST-2018-0000
Finn, P., Beverly, B. L., Ciccia, A., & Cone, B. (2019). Bridging knowledge between research and practice. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_PERS-ST-2018-0014
Goldstein, H., McKenna, M., Barker, R. M., & Brown, T. (2019). Research-practice partnership: Application to implementation of multi-tiered system of supports in early childhood education. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_PERS-ST-2018-0005
Mormer, E., & Stevans, J. (2019). Clinical quality improvement and quality improvement research. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_PERS-ST-2018-0003
Morris, M. A., Oshita, J., & Stransky, M. (2019). Advancing the delivery of CSD services through research: The promise of health services research. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_PERS-ST-2018-0002
Yorkston, K., & Baylor, C. (2019). Patient-reported outcome measures: An introduction for clinicians. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups.
https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_PERS-ST-2018-0001
