2011V - Demonstrating Resilience With the Unmotivated Patient

Lack of progress in dysphagia therapy can be attributed to many reasons. The unreachable patient can become distressing and frustrating for the SLP causing burn out. Unfortunately, some patients are labeled as “unmotivated” and their case becomes helpless, despite great effort from the SLP. The purpose of this presentation is to address those patients by proposing a way to target readiness to improve patient participation and outcomes while the SLP remains resilient. Stages of Change (Prochaska & DiClemente) was developed for clinicians to understand a patient’s readiness to change. Motivational Interviewing, (Miller and Rollnick) is a specific and learned skillset of communication. We propose that these established and highly researched theories can be used in combination for swallowing therapy.