A primary study on the attitude, knowledge and behavior of speech and language pathologists toward evidence-based practice

Evidence-based practice incorporates research into clinical skills along with recognizing and accepting client’s ideas. In recent years, speech and language pathologists have been expected to justify their clinical decision makings on the grounds of reliable evidence-based practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate speech-language pathologists’ attitude, knowledge and behavior toward evidence-based practice and its relationships with personal and interventional variants.

In this cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic and retrospective study, 40 available speech and language pathologists in Isfahan were assessed via a checklist called “attitude, knowledge and behavior of speech and language pathologists toward evidence-based practice”.

The results showed that %79 of graduates and B.Sc. or M.Sc. students had positive attitude toward evidence-based practice. %90 of participants responded that they had not received any instruction on the subject. %32 of speech and language pathologists reported that they usually read less than 2 articles a month and one-third of respondents was found to use resource materials less than 2 times a month in order to make clinical decisions. Only half of the sample had online access to information either in home or in office.

Study results show that there is a need for teaching evidence-based practice and providing appropriate strategies to increase its application.