Parents' Perception of the Benefit of Receiving a Patient Information Leaflet Prior to Attending a Craniofacial Multidisciplinary Team Appointment.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how a patient information leaflet describing what to expect during a craniofacial multidisciplinary team (MDT) appointment is experienced by parents of children with craniofacial anomalies (CFAs) and whether it helps with preparation for the appointment. DESIGN: Combination of qualitative and quantitative design. SETTING: Norwegian National Unit for Craniofacial Surgery. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-three parents of children with CFAs completed the questionnaire and fourteen were subsequently interviewed. INTERVENTIONS: A patient information leaflet, sent to all parents before their MDT appointment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Descriptive questionnaire data and interview data. RESULTS: All parents (N = 33, 100%) found the leaflet easy to understand, while 31 (93.9%) found it provided helpful information. However, many first-time attendees still found the MDT setting overwhelming. CONCLUSIONS: A leaflet may be helpful for parents when preparing for their child's MDT appointment. However, some parents may need additional support and information related to their child's treatment pathway.

Voice Quality in Laryngeal Cancer Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study of the Effect of Voice Rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of voice rehabilitation in patients treated with radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer as measured by both the acoustic measure smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS) and perceptual measures. A secondary aim was to investigate the relationship between acoustic and perceptual measures. METHODS: In total, 37 patients received voice rehabilitation post-radiotherapy and 37 patients constituted the irradiated control group. Outcome measures were mean CPPS for connected speech and ratings with the auditory-perceptual Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia and Strain (GRBAS) scale. Outcome measures were analyzed 1 (baseline), 6, 12, and 24 months post-radiotherapy, where voice rehabilitation was conducted between the first two time-points. Additional recordings were acquired from vocally healthy participants for comparison. RESULTS: CPPS values of the voice rehabilitation group and vocally healthy group were not significantly different at 24 months post-radiotherapy. Ten out of 19 patients who received voice rehabilitation yielded a CPPS value above the threshold for normal voice 24 months post-radiotherapy, compared to 11 out of 26 in the irradiated control group. No statistically significant correlations were found between CPPS and perceptual parameters of GRBAS. CONCLUSION: Voice rehabilitation for irradiated laryngeal cancer patients may have positive effects on voice quality up to 24 months post-radiotherapy. The relationship between CPPS and GRBAS as well as the applicability of CPPS for evaluation over several points of measurement needs to be studied further.