Background: The Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) team are specialised in working alongside people who undergo total laryngectomy surgery. The SLT team have a long-standing approach to working collaboratively with this patient group, including hosting club meetings in which people who have had laryngectomy surgery meet up periodically to support each other.
Methods: 31 people attended (20 laryngectomy survivors, 11 family / friends) a club meeting in May 2023. Attendee feedback was collected via an anonymous questionnaire, in the form of rating scales and open-ended questions. The information gathered was collated, and qualitative information was thematically analysed.
Results: 14 feedback forms were returned. Overall, the collected experience of this peer support group was rated positively. Emerging themes from the data included themes of connection, and psychological support. Suggestions for change included increased frequency of meetings, and altering the environment to better support communication accessibility, particularly in relation to room acoustics for electrolarynx users.
Conclusion: Following a prolonged period of reduced face-to-face contact in context of the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to feedback from the laryngectomy patient caseload, the SLT team sought to re-establish in-person club meetings. Feedback will be used to design future groups, and create new pathways in a collaborative and co-designed patient and SLT approach to supporting HNC survivorship.
Abbi Mc Carron1, Kate Bree1
1 Department of Speech & Language Therapy, St James’s Hospital, Dublin