Food characteristics and oropharyngeal dysphagia: What speech therapists say.

This study aims to investigate the knowledge of speech therapists about characteristics of food used in the management of dysphagia. This was a quantitative descriptive study, performed using an online questionnaire (SurveyMonkey®) about the desirable food and beverages attributes to facilitate deglutition in dysphagia rehabilitation: texture, viscosity, temperature, taste, and moisture. Participants were separated into two groups, experts in dysphagia and no experts in dysphagia. Differences between the two groups were compared using the Freeman–Halton extension of the Fisher exact probability test and chi‐square test. From 1,072 respondents, 752 were included and 572 were experts in dysphagia. The speech therapist expert in dysphagia answered correctly about the texture and viscosity, while no experts answered correctly only about viscosity. The other attributes, temperature, taste, and moisture, were incorrectly answered by both groups. The speech therapists demonstrated reduced knowledge regarding the characteristics of foods most indicated for patients with dysphagia. Practical applications: The rehabilitation program for patients with dysphagia, established to promote safe and efficient food intake, includes changes in diet offered, since swallowing mechanism is dependent upon bolus characteristics. Speech therapist must select specific characteristics, such as texture, viscosity, temperature, taste, and moisture. The speech therapists participants demonstrated reduced knowledge regarding the characteristics of foods, presenting better results in texture and consistency than in temperature, taste, and moisture. There is a need to deepen the knowledge of speech therapists about the characteristics of foods so that choices in modified diets are more assertive and achieve the goal of ensure a safe and efficient swallowing for these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]