Understanding the barriers and facilitators for prophylactic swallowing and trismus exercises for patients undergoing radiation to the head and neck may help exercise adherence. The analysis reviews all published reports of exercise adherence with a critical appraisal following PRISMA guidelines. A total of 137 potential papers were identified; 20 studies met the inclusion criteria. The most commonly reported facilitators for swallowing and trismus exercises were regular clinician contact and online resources to reinforce instructions, set goals, and manage radiation toxicities. Social support and perceived benefit from exercises were also reported to be of help. The most common barriers to exercise were radiation toxicities, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed with information, and not understanding the reason for the exercises. Understanding facilitators and barriers to adherence is critical when designing exercise interventions for patients undergoing radiation for head and neck cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Speech sound disorder (SSD) describes a \'persistent difficulty with speech sound production that interferes with speech intelligibility or prevents verbal communication\'. There is a need to establish which care pathways are most effective and efficient for children with SSD. Comparison of care pathways requires clearly defined, evidence-based, interventions and agreement on how to measure the outcomes. At present, no definitive list of assessments, interventions or outcomes exists. The objective of this umbrella review paper is to provide a rigorous and detailed list of assessments, interventions and outcomes which target SSD in children.
METHODS: In December 2022, a systematic search of Ovid Medline, OVID Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo and Cochrane and a number of grey literature platforms were undertaken. 18 reviews were included, and subsequently 415 primary research articles were assessed for data related to assessments, interventions or outcomes. The AMSTAR (Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews) framework was used to assess the quality of the retained reviews.
METHODS: Reviews were retained which took place in any setting.
METHODS: The population is children of any age with a diagnosis of SSD of unknown origin.
METHODS: Reviews reporting outcomes, assessment and interventions for children with SSD.
RESULTS: Extraction and analysis identified 37 assessments, 46 interventions and 30 outcome measures used in research reporting of SSD. Not all of the listed outcomes were linked to specific outcome measurement tools, but these were measurable through the use of one or more of the assessments extracted from the retained reviews.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this review will be used to develop a Core Outcome Set for children with SSD. The findings are part of a rigorous process essential for advancing healthcare research and practice in the specific area of speech and language therapy for children with SSD.
UNASSIGNED: CRD42022316284.

BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, several machine learning (ML) algorithms have been investigated to assess their efficacy in detecting voice disorders. Literature indicates that ML algorithms can detect voice disorders with high accuracy. This suggests that ML has the potential to assist clinicians in the analysis and treatment outcome evaluation of voice disorders. However, despite numerous research studies, none of the algorithms have been sufficiently reliable to be used in clinical settings. Through this review, we aim to identify critical issues that have inhibited the use of ML algorithms in clinical settings by identifying standard audio tasks, acoustic features, processing algorithms and environmental factors that affect the efficacy of those algorithms.
METHODS: We will search the following databases: Web of Science, Scopus, Compendex, CINAHL, Medline, IEEE Explore and Embase. Our search strategy has been developed with the assistance of the university library staff to accommodate the different syntactical requirements. The literature search will include the period between 2013 and 2023, and will be confined to articles published in English. We will exclude editorials, ongoing studies and working papers. The selection, extraction and analysis of the search data will be conducted using the \'Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews\' system. The same system will also be used for the synthesis of the results.
BACKGROUND: This scoping review does not require ethics approval as the review solely consists of peer-reviewed publications. The findings will be presented in peer-reviewed publications related to voice pathology.

Speech and language therapists (SLTs) worldwide report challenges with providing recommended, evidence-based intervention intensity for children with speech sound disorder (SSD). Challenges such as service constraints and/or family contexts impact on access to optimal therapy intensity. Existing research indicates that empowering and training parents to deliver intervention at home, alongside SLT support, offers one possible solution to increasing the intensity of intervention children with SSD receive. Digital health could increase accessibility to intensive home practice and help sustain engagement with therapy activities. Further exploration is needed around what makes parent-implemented interventions for children with SSD effective, for who and in which situations. This paper outlines the protocol for a realist review which aims to explore the active ingredients and contextual factors of effective digital parent-led interventions.
A realist review will explore the research question, following six stages. The scope of the review will be determined, and initial programme theories will be developed about what works in digital parent-implemented interventions for SSD, for whom, how, why and in what circumstances. Relevant secondary data, identified through a formal search strategy, will be selected, appraised, analysed and synthesised using realist principles to test and further refine the initial programme theories. This process will develop refined underpinning explanatory theories which capture the interaction between contexts, mechanisms and outcomes of the intervention. An expert steering group will provide insight to inform explanatory theories, searches, and dissemination.
Ethical approval is not required for this review. The refined programme theories from the review will inform the next stages of a wider study. A subsequent realist evaluation will test and further refine theories with key stakeholders. Following this, the underpinning programme theory will be used to coproduce a digital tool, to support parents to deliver home intervention alongside SLT support.

The primary objective of the present systematic review is to: (1) identify the current vocal tasks being used for acoustic and/or auditory perceptual analysis to differentiate between individuals with and without voice disorders. The secondary objectives are to: (2) evaluate the evidence of the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of those vocal tasks for acoustic and/or auditory perceptual analysis in discriminating the individuals with voice disorders from those without; and (3) compare the values between the vocal tasks in discriminating individuals with voice disorders from those without.
We search the following electronic databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed Central and Google Scholar. Grey literature searches will include ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, ClinicalTrials.gov and the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials. Websites of professional organisations and textbooks will be hand searched for relevant information related to the research question. Study screening, selection and data extraction will be conducted independently by two reviewers. Any disagreements will be resolved by discussion or by involving a third reviewer.The methodological quality of the included studies will be appraised using the relevant Critical Appraisal Tools by JBI. The clinical guidelines and recommendations for voice assessment by professional bodies will be appraised using the Reporting Items for practice Guidelines in HealThcare (RIGHT) checklist. The findings will be presented in the form of an information matrix with the tasks identified tabulated against the nature of the task, dimensions being tested, and their accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in identifying individuals with voice problems.
Formal ethics approval is not required. The findings will be presented at national and international conferences and published in a peer-reviewed journal.
CRD42023431634.

University departments of rural health are Commonwealth-funded to improve recruitment and retention of the rural allied health and nursing (including midwifery) workforce, primarily through student placements. We examined publications by university departments of rural health that were focused on allied health and nursing students undertaking placements in rural Australia, to understand the characteristics, main findings and implications of the research conducted. Interprofessional learning was a key feature of placements and placement education, although other activities such as community engagement added to placement experiences. Factors such as quality supervision and being involved in the community contributed to a positive placement experience and increased rural practice intention. Tracking studies showed a relationship between rural placements, rural practice intention and rural practice. Rural placements occurred across a variety of settings and in locations consistent with the policy framework. Embedding university departments of rural health in rural communities enabled staff to build relationships and increase placement capacity.

Speech is a communication method found only in humans that relies on precisely articulated sounds to encode and express thoughts. Anatomical differences in the maxilla, mandible, tooth position, and vocal tract affect tongue placement and broadly influence the patterns of airflow and resonance during speech production. Alterations in these structures can create perceptual distortions in speech known as speech sound disorders (SSDs). As craniofacial development occurs, the vocal tract, jaws, and teeth change in parallel with stages of speech development, from babbling to adult phonation. Alterations from a normal Class 1 dental and skeletal relationship can impact speech. Dentofacial disharmony (DFD) patients have jaw disproportions, with a high prevalence of SSDs, where the severity of malocclusion correlates with the degree of speech distortion. DFD patients often seek orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment, but there is limited familiarity among dental providers on the impacts of malocclusion and its correction on speech. We sought to review the interplay between craniofacial and speech development and the impacts of orthodontic and surgical treatment on speech. Shared knowledge can facilitate collaborations between dental specialists and speech pathologists for the proper diagnosis, referral, and treatment of DFD patients with speech pathologies.

Evidence suggests that over one-third of young children with developmental language disorder (DLD) or speech sound disorder (SSD) have co-occurring features of both. A co-occurring DLD and SSD profile is associated with negative long-term outcomes relating to communication, literacy and emotional well-being. However, the best treatment approach for young children with this profile is not understood. The aim of the proposed review is to identify intervention techniques for both DLD and SSD, along with their shared characteristics. The findings will then be analysed in the context of relevant theory. This will inform the content for a new or adapted intervention for these children.
This search will build on a previous systematic review by Roulstone et al (2015) but with a specific focus on oral vocabulary (DLD outcome) and speech comprehensibility (SSD outcome). These outcomes were identified by parents and speech and language therapists within the prestudy stakeholder engagement work. The following databases will be searched for articles from January 2012 onwards: Ovid Emcare, MEDLINE Complete, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO, Communication Source and ERIC. Two reviewers will independently perform the title/abstract screening and the full-text screening with the exclusion criteria document being revised in an iterative process. Articles written in languages other than English will be excluded. Data will be extracted regarding key participant and intervention criteria, including technique dosage and delivery details. This information will then be pooled into a structured narrative synthesis.
Ethical approval is not needed for a systematic review protocol. Dissemination of findings will be through peer-reviewed publications, social media, and project steering group networks.
CRD4202237393.

Asymmetric mandibular hypoplasia, microtia, tongue and laryngeal anomalies, and soft palate and facial nerve dysfunction are clinical features observed in children with craniofacial microsomia (CFM). Despite involvement of all these structures in hearing and speech, there is limited evidence reporting speech outcomes in this population. Systematic reviews of clinical and surgical interventions related to CFM have been published, but no methodological review of speech outcomes exists. This scoping review will summarise what is known about speech production in individuals with CFM as well as illustrate gaps in the existing body of literature that will guide future research.
This review will follow the methodological framework for scoping reviews first reported by Arksey & O\'Malley and revised by Levac and others. Databases searched will include Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and grey literature. Articles reporting any parameter of speech production in individuals with CFM will be considered for inclusion. Articles published in a language other than English will be excluded. Articles will be screened in three stages: (1) title review, (2) abstract review and (3) full text review. Ten per cent of articles will be rescreened by a second reviewer. Reference lists will be hand reviewed to identify additional relevant articles. Data charting will capture article metadata, study population and design, CFM diagnostic criteria, speech outcome measurement and key findings. The Preferred Reporting Systems for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols-Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist will guide reporting of results. Descriptive analysis and data visualisation strategies will be used.
Institutional review board approval is not required for a scoping review, as it does not directly involve human subjects. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication as well as conference presentation.

Speech sound disorder (SSD) describes a \'persistent difficulty with speech sound production that interferes with speech intelligibility or prevents verbal communication\'. There is a need to establish which care pathways are most effective and efficient for children with SSD. Comparison of care pathways requires clearly defined, evidence-based interventions and agreement on how to measure the outcomes. At present, no list of assessments, interventions or outcomes exists.The objective of this paper is to provide a rigorous and detailed protocol for an umbrella review of assessments, interventions and outcomes that target SSD in children. The protocol details the development of a search strategy and trial of an extraction tool.
The umbrella review has been registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022316284). Papers included can use a review methodology of any sort but must include children of any age, with an SSD of unknown origin. In accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methods guidelines, an initial search of the Ovid Emcare and Ovid Medline databases was conducted. Following this, a final search strategy for these databases were produced. A draft extraction form was developed.
Ethical approval is not needed for an umbrella review protocol. Following the systematic development of an initial search strategy and extraction form, an umbrella review of this topic can take place. Dissemination of findings will be through peer-reviewed publications, social media, and patient and public engagement.