Research Corner

My research spark stemmed from my clinical practice. I was working as an SLP with patients with dysphagia due to cancer, and I had many questions that only scientific literature could answer. However, looking for answers was not easy. First, I had a hard time understanding how to select appropriate information and put it into practice. Second, not all my questions could be answered in the existing literature. Thus, I decided I had to learn the tools necessary to answer my own questions. That’s how I got into my master’s degree, and now I am pursuing my PhD. During my research journey, I understood that research is about working at “population level” rather than “patient level”, and working for the population whom I care the most is what motivates and inspires me personally and professionally every day.

My doctoral research is focused on patient-reported outcomes in people with dysphagia following head and neck cancer (HNC). Currently, the use of questionnaires to capture patient-reported dysphagia is inconsistent among clinicians, settings and institutions. This inconsistency undermines our opportunity to compare outcomes, and ultimately to determine the benefits of dysphagia interventions for these individuals. Starting from this knowledge gap, we designed a research project that aims at reaching a consensus among patients, researchers and clinicians on which dysphagia outcomes must be measured in people with HNC. In other words, we aim to create a core outcome set for patient-reported dysphagia in HNC.

To achieve this goal, we developed 3 independent studies that represent my doctoral dissertation. The first one consists of identifying all questionnaires currently available to measure dysphagia outcomes in HNC and assessing their relevance and accuracy. The second study employs qualitative research methods to explore perspectives of HNC patients and clinicians, to determine the outcomes they value the most. The final study consists in bringing together a group of international HNC stakeholders, including clinicians, researchers and patients, to develop the core outcome set.