Perspectives of Speech-Language Pathologists and Students on Providing Care to People Living With Dementia: A Scoping Review.

PURPOSE: This scoping review aimed to explore the extant literature on the experiences and views of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and SLP students regarding the provision of care to people living with dementia (PLWD). METHOD: A systematic search was conducted using 10 databases for sources published in English from January 2000 through January 2022. Sources were included if participants were practicing SLPs and/or students enrolled in undergraduate communicative disorders or graduate SLP programs and if the concepts of experiences or views on the provision of SLP services to PLWD were explored in the context of any clinical or educational setting. Included sources were systematically extracted for pertinent study characteristics, including SLP roles and settings, concept domains, measures utilized, and facilitators/barriers to effective dementia care. RESULTS: The majority of the 29 included sources were published in either academic journals (n = 20) or professional organization publications (n = 5) and used a cross-sectional study design (n = 19). Participants included SLPs (n = 22 studies) and graduate (n = 6 studies), undergraduate (n = 3 studies), and doctoral students (n = 1 study). The included studies addressed five primary conceptual domains: experiences, attitudes, roles, knowledge, and confidence. The most commonly addressed barriers and facilitators of effective dementia care were education and training. CONCLUSIONS: Mapping and analysis of the current body of knowledge within this scoping review illuminated several knowledge gaps that we propose need to be addressed to meet the education and training needs of SLPs to provide optimal care to PLWD. These include systematically measuring access to and outcomes of evidence-based education and training programs both within and outside of an interprofessional collaborative context.

Physical Therapists' and Physical Therapist Students' Experiences and Views on the Provision of Physical Therapy Services to People With Dementia: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Physical therapists (PTs) require specialized education and training to increase the capacity and competence of the dementia care workforce. Four areas of critical dementia workforce education and training gaps that apply to the physical therapy profession have been identified, including recruitment/retention, financing and cost of training, interprofessional education, and translation/implementation of effective dementia care. A critical step in developing effective training programs and educational curricula is to understand PTs' and PT students' experiences and views on working with people with dementia (PwD). Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review was to examine the extent and types of evidence that explore the experiences and views of PTs and PT students on the provision of physical therapy services to PwD. METHODS: The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsychINFO, ERIC, PEDro, Web of Science, and Medline databases and sources of gray literature were searched for sources of evidence that met the inclusion criteria of the review protocol. The literature was mapped according to author, participant role, setting, publication type, study design, study aim, key findings, and dementia workforce training gaps addressed. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A total of 552 sources of evidence were screened for eligibility, and 16 studies were selected for inclusion. Twelve studies included PTs as participants, and 5 included PT students. Included sources explored PTs' experiences, behaviors, knowledge, attitudes, and confidence in working with PwD and the influence of educational, organizational, and other factors on these domains. Challenges to and strategies for delivering effective care to PwD were examined in multiple sources. The 4 areas of critical dementia workforce education and training gaps were each addressed by at least 1 of the included studies. CONCLUSIONS: The current body of literature identifies several gaps in both research and education that need to be addressed before our profession is truly prepared to effectively manage this challenging population of patients with specialized needs.