Walking the tightrope: clinicians’ insights about quality-of-life for children and young people with pediatric dysphagia

Dysphagia can have various negative impacts on a person’s quality of life, participation, and inclusion. This session presents a qualitative focus group study that examined the views of allied health professionals on the impacts of dysphagia on the quality of life of children and young people, and the barriers and facilitators in maintaining quality of life. Data was analyzed using Thematic Network Analysis. Sixteen allied health professionals (five speech-language pathologists, seven occupational therapists and four dietitians) engaged in the focus groups. Managing dysphagia was viewed as walking a tightrope, balancing the influence of contexts and the cascading impacts on life within dysphagia management that is holistic and evidence-based. Balancing physical needs alongside social participation could improve quality of life.