Psychosocial Barriers to Completion of Speech Home Exercise Programs

Home exercise programs (HEPs) are provided to patients to maximize retention and generalization of the skills learned during ongoing speech therapy. Unfortunately, psychosocial barriers can lead to inconsistent implementation of speech HEPs, but currently, minimal research exists in identifying these factors. This study aims to ascertain the barriers involved in neglecting the implementation of speech HEPs within the cleft and craniofacial population. Respondents answered a series of questions related to demographics (e.g., ethnicity, diagnosis), speech services (e.g., frequency, additional services), and psychosocial barriers (e.g., mental health of parent, patient motivation). Findings demonstrated that 88% of the families in this study experienced psychosocial barriers. Fifteen out of the 17 respondents were mothers (88%), whose marriage status included married (70.59%), single (23.53%), and widowed (5.88%). The majority (59% of caregivers) reported completing assigned speech HEPs less than 75% of the time. Given the findings of this preliminary study, future studies can further assess the psychosocial barriers and their relationship to demographic information. This information will be useful in finding strategies to promote follow-through of HEP implementation in the future.