TY - CHAP

T1 - The Demands of Context

T2 - Development of a Relational In Vivo Methodology for Participative Speech–Language Therapy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

AU - Lüdtke, Ulrike M.

AU - Polzin, Chantal

N1 - We thank our research team in the project “Establishment of a Child Development Lab in Tanzania” funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD): Josephat Semkiwa, Afizai Vuliva, Enna Mdemu, Marianne Mrisho, Bodo Frank, and Ulrike Schütte, as well as all the participants of this project. Additionally, we are grateful to the members of the DAAD project team “Knowledge Transfer by Global Unity—Multilateral East African-German Partnership in Speech Language Pathology” (2015–2018) from Kenyatta University (KU), Nairobi, Kenya, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda. Further, we would like to thank all discussants and participants of the fifth East African Conference on Communication Disability in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2013. Further, we would like to thank Juan Bornman from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, for asking challenging questions and thus improving our text. A final check from a sub-Saharan African perspective was completed by Mathew Karia (KU).

PY - 2023/2/4

Y1 - 2023/2/4

N2 - Background: The young speech–language therapy (SLT) profession in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) needs to develop research at different levels to reflect theory and practice. In general, in SSA, a lack of research investment and output brings many challenges for research development. Often research collaborations with researchers from minority world contexts are entered into with potential intercultural and (neo)-colonial conflicts with subsequent power disparities and the danger of a lack of cultural adaptation. However, the current early stage of professional development in research offers many opportunities for the SLT profession, such as the chance to create a unique African methodology. Methodology: In this chapter, we focus on a concept of a multilevel approach to SLT research development and connect it to the specific SLT research context in SSA. We discuss methodological necessities, challenges, and opportunities to propose and explicate a participative and relational in vivo approach—conceptually and practically illustrated with our own research examples following this approach. Results: Different forms of implementation of such a relational research paradigm, and the related research questions and methods, are exemplified at the five levels of SLT research. A research checklist at the end of the chapter gives recommendations to reflect on research strategies and designs in the proposed relational approach. Discussion: This relational research approach, which considers the needs of participating people and the demands of the context, offers an opportunity to create unique SSA research methodology by building a body of evidence-based practice, which is culturally appropriate with and for persons with communicative disorders in SSA.

AB - Background: The young speech–language therapy (SLT) profession in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) needs to develop research at different levels to reflect theory and practice. In general, in SSA, a lack of research investment and output brings many challenges for research development. Often research collaborations with researchers from minority world contexts are entered into with potential intercultural and (neo)-colonial conflicts with subsequent power disparities and the danger of a lack of cultural adaptation. However, the current early stage of professional development in research offers many opportunities for the SLT profession, such as the chance to create a unique African methodology. Methodology: In this chapter, we focus on a concept of a multilevel approach to SLT research development and connect it to the specific SLT research context in SSA. We discuss methodological necessities, challenges, and opportunities to propose and explicate a participative and relational in vivo approach—conceptually and practically illustrated with our own research examples following this approach. Results: Different forms of implementation of such a relational research paradigm, and the related research questions and methods, are exemplified at the five levels of SLT research. A research checklist at the end of the chapter gives recommendations to reflect on research strategies and designs in the proposed relational approach. Discussion: This relational research approach, which considers the needs of participating people and the demands of the context, offers an opportunity to create unique SSA research methodology by building a body of evidence-based practice, which is culturally appropriate with and for persons with communicative disorders in SSA.

KW - In vivo

KW - Methodology

KW - PAR

KW - Relational

KW - Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161882616&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-04504-2_8

DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-04504-2_8

M3 - Contribution to book/anthology

AN - SCOPUS:85161882616

SN - 9783031045035

SP - 151

EP - 178

BT - Handbook of Speech-Language Therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa

PB - Springer International Publishing AG

ER -