Professional paper
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SUPPORT IN THE VOICESPEECH REHABILITATION PROCESS
TAMARA KOPF
orcid.org/0000-0002-3528-2170
; Osijek University Hospital Centre, Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Osijek, Croatia
LJILJANA ŠIRIĆ
; Osijek University Hospital Centre, Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Osijek; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Department of General and Applied Kinesiology, Zagreb, Croatia
MARINELA ROSSO
; Rosso Polyclinic, Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Objective: to investigate the relationship between perceived informal social support and speech therapy parameters including the following: applying instructions given by the speech-language pathologist, success in acquisition of alaryngeal speech, and use of alaryngeal voice in everyday social interactions in laryngectomized patients. Methods: this retrospective study included 47 laryngectomized males, mean age 67.19 years. Data were collected in a semi-structured interview over the voice-speech therapy duration. The data collected were statistically analyzed in a JASP software (version 0.12.2., University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) by appropriate statistical methods. Results: the alaryngeal speech usage in real communication circumstances is positively strongly associated with marital status, social support, following instructions and self-discipline, and successful voice-speech rehabilitation. Discussion: these fi ndings suggest that informal social support is an important protective factor in rehabilitation process of laryngectomized patients that facilitates acquisition of alaryngeal voice. The results were in concordance with similar research findings indicating association between greater perceived social support and better treatment outcomes. Conclusion: informal social support has an important role in all components of voice-speech therapy of laryngectomees, where the most important association is with success in learning substitute speech.
Keywords
laryngectomy; psychosocial adaptation; social support; speech therapy; voice rehabilitation
Hrčak ID:
261272
URI
Publication date:
10.8.2021.
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