The perspectives of Australian speech pathologists in providing evidence-based practices to children with autism.

Researchers interviewed 15 Australian speech therapists about how they use research evidence when treating autistic children. The therapists reported challenges including lack of time, difficulty finding relevant research, and uncertainty about evidence quality. They valued advice from colleagues and relied heavily on their clinical experience. The study suggests that better training in research skills and support for therapists' confidence in using evidence-based approaches could improve services for autistic children.

This qualitative study explored Australian speech pathologists' perspectives on implementing evidence-based practices (EBP) for children with autism through focus groups with 15 practitioners. Seven themes emerged regarding barriers and facilitators to EBP use, including resource constraints, diverse evidence sources, clinical expertise requirements, and outcome measurement challenges. Key barriers included limited time, research skills, and uncertainty about evidence quality. Facilitators included collegial support and clinical expertise in translating research to practice.

The study suggests that interventions targeting practitioner beliefs, research skills, and self-efficacy may improve EBP implementation, with modelling and reflective practice identified as promising strategies.

Professional development programs should target both research skills and practitioner beliefs about EBP benefits. Implementation strategies should include peer modelling, reflective practice opportunities, and support for clinical decision-making that integrates evidence with individual client needs and clinical expertise.

Small sample size of 15 participants limits generalizability. Qualitative design provides insights into perspectives but cannot establish causal relationships. Findings are specific to Australian context and may not apply to other healthcare systems or countries.

Bridging the research-practice gap in autism communication services is an identified priority for improving services. Limited research has investigated the views of practitioners regarding this research-practice gap. Investigation of the barriers experienced and facilitators used in clinical practice may assist to identify scalable and sustainable strategies to increase use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the delivery of communication services to children with autism. To elucidate how Australian speech pathologists engage with external evidence and how communication outcomes are measured to demonstrate the effectiveness of service provision to children with autism.

A total of 15 Australian speech pathologists, with experience ranging from less than 1 to more than 16 years, participated in three focus groups. Data from focus groups were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis within an interpretive phenomenological paradigm. Seven themes were identified. Participants reported on the diversity of individuals with autism, their experiences of resource constraints, seeking collegial advice and accessing a diverse range of evidence sources, the role of clinical expertise in translating evidence to practice, the barriers experienced in outcome measurement and use of stakeholders to facilitate data collection to demonstrate outcomes.

Individual practitioner skill and beliefs are facilitators to translating research to practice. Interventions to improve clinician use of EBP should address the skill and belief barriers, aiming to increase a clinician's EBP self-efficacy and increasing their expectation that investing in EBP activities will result in improved services for children with autism. Modelling and reflective practice are two strategies that may have an application as interventions to improve EBP use in clinical practice. What is already known on the subject Constrained resources, especially lack of time, is a barrier to routine uptake of best available evidence in clinical services for children with autism.

What this paper adds to existing knowledge In this study, the perception that speech pathologists lacked time to engage in EBP activities was linked with the speech pathologist's research skill and their beliefs about the benefits of engaging in EBP. Speech Pathologists reported using a range of information sources, as "evidence" but also reported feeling uneasy when using evidence of disputable, or unknown quality. Accessibility and relevance to their individual client were highly prioritised in selecting evidence. Clinical expertise was an essential skill for research translation.

What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Interventions which target professional beliefs and research translation capability are requisite for motivating speech pathologists to improve their use of EBP. Modelling of EBP use, individual reflective practice and collegial active listening to facilitate reflective practice, might be useful strategies which target beliefs and capability of individual speech pathologists; thereby changing their EBP use.