What is it about?
We swallow food and drinks without thinking all day long, but swallowing is a vital function that can malfunction (called "dysphagia") and most of us are unaware of why and how it can happen. Dysphagia usually occurs due to illness such as strokes, head and neck cancers, and even age-related decline. This review found that awareness of dysphagia is low across the board, even in health professionals. People who live with dysphagia can experience the condition differently from what clinical assessments report.
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Photo by Luiz Rogério Nunes on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Raising dysphagia awareness can help the public to seek early intervention for themselves and their loved ones from speech language pathologists who are trained to manage this condition. Speech language pathologists should also be aware of the disconnect between subjective experiences of dysphagia and assessment findings to inform person-centred care.
Perspectives
Everyone has an issue close to their heart they'd like to tell the world about and make a difference to. For me, it's dysphagia. With this work, I am continuing my line of research and advocacy work to educate the public about swallowing disorders and let more people who live with dysphagia know that there is help out there!
Dai Pu
Monash University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Awareness of Dysphagia: An Integrative Review, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, May 2025, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2025_persp-24-00293.
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