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Conducting research in clinical settings is challenging. The aim of this study was to increase our understanding of hearing care professionals' perceptions of barriers to participating in such research. A modified group concept mapping approach was used to gain anonymous responses from 124 hearing care professionals to the statement: "One reason why it is hard to conduct intervention research studies in my centre/practice is....". Participants were asked for reasons other than 'time' as this is universally reported as a barrier to clinical research. A total of 107 distinct reasons were provided by participants and these were sorted into 5 clusters: "Competing demands/pressures" (18 statements), "Not a priority for management/organisation" (14 statements), "Lack of opportunity/support" (19 statements), "Clinician's knowledge, confidence, and beliefs" (24 statements), and "Recruitment/adherence to protocols is challenging" (32 statements). Identified barriers were generally similar to those reported in other healthcare settings, with unique barriers being those associated with a fear of scrutiny and lack of trust in the "academic elite". Findings highlight the importance of researchers, clinicians, and clinic managers working together at all stages of the research process in order for clinical research to be successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the backgrounds, diversity training, and professional perspectives reported by 154 Colorado speech-language pathologists in serving children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. The authors compare the results of the current survey to those of a similar survey collected in 1996. Respondents reported that they were comfortable working with racially and culturally diverse students, but they felt less competence when working with linguistic minorities. They also reported using standardized English assessment less frequently with CLD students and reported using professionals for interpretation more often than family members. However, respondents also reported less confidence when using interpreters and reported that they had challenges in accessing interpreters. Challenges included a shortage of appropriate assessment tools and a lack of normative information about language development in linguistically diverse children. Based on these results the authors describe implications and future directions to continue to improve services to children from CLD backgrounds. (Contains 3 tables.)

Objective: To explore why there is a lack of acceptance among Western Australian (WA) adults of the Go for 2&5® fruit and vegetable social marketing message to consume at least five servings of vegetables per day.Design: A series of focus group discussions comprised of homogeneous groups varied by sex and age, until saturation of themes was achieved, followed by thematic analysis.Setting: Part of qualitative research for the Go for 2&5® fruit and vegetable social marketing campaign in WA (2009 population: 2.2 million).Subjects: WA adults stratified by sex and age groups (18-29 and 30-55 years) drawn from the second and third quartiles of socio-economic disadvantage.Results: Familiarity with the Go for 2&5® message was excellent. Understanding of what constitutes 'two servings of fruit' was excellent and regarded by participants as highly achievable. Understanding of what constitutes 'five servings of vegetables' was suboptimal with widespread overestimation contributing to the belief that it is unrealistic. Participants did not know how the 2&5 recommendation was formulated and believed that daily consumption of two servings of fruit and five of vegetables would confer no greater health benefit than one of fruit and three of vegetables. Participants assumed that the 2&5 recommendation was 'aspirational' in the sense that it was purposely exaggerated to simply encourage greater overall consumption.Conclusions: A convincing case needs to be presented to WA adults as to why they should consume five servings of vegetables per day. Continuing efforts to educate incorporating what constitutes a serving will assist perceptions that the recommendation is realistic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]