Interventions to Prevent Aspiration in Older Adults With Dysphagia Living in Nursing Homes: A Scoping Review
BMC Geriatrics
Chen, S., Kent, B., et al. (2021).
BMC Geriatrics, 21, Article 429.
This systematic review investigates the effects of various interventions on preventing aspiration in older adults living in nursing homes. Only findings relevant to the Speech-Language Pathologist scope of practice are reported here.
Not stated
2010 to 2020
Experimental and observational quantitative studies and qualitative designs
19
Limited findings demonstrated emerging support for the use of bedside evaluation, diet modification, environmental modifications, feeding assistance, swallow maneuvers and postures, and rehabilitation programs. Improved outcomes were noted for multi-disciplinary approaches. Findings of this review should be interpreted with caution due to poorly defined treatment interventions, heterogeneity between studies, overall paucity of research, and lack of reporting regarding sample sizes of included studies. Additionally, despite many treatments being within speech-language pathology scope of practice, the majority of the included studies investigated interventions provided by nurses and/or caregivers. Further high quality research is needed to determine the efficacy of compensatory and rehabilitative swallowing treatments in this population.
