Competências profissionais em cuidados paliativos: inserção da fonoaudiologia em ferramentas validadas

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the competence of health professionals working in palliative care, with a special focus on Speech-Language Pathology. The research is organized into two scientific articles that explore different aspects of this assessment. The first article, "Analysis of instruments that assess the competence of health professionals in palliative care: a scoping review", investigated the literature to identify validated instruments that assess the competence of professionals involved in palliative care for people at the end of life. The review showed that, although some instruments address knowledge, skills and attitudes, none were developed specifically to assess the performance of speech-language pathologists. In addition, it showed that most of the studies found were conducted by nurses, which reinforces the need to include other professionals in the multidisciplinary team in future research. The second article, "Attitudes of Speech-Language Pathologists who work with people in Palliative Care at the end of life: cross-cultural validation of the FATCOD-BS instrument", aimed to validate the Brazilian version of the instrument, adapting it for speech-language pathologists who work in the field. The study followed a rigorous methodological process, including translation, synthesis, retranslation and evaluation by judges trained in Speech-Language Pathology. The results indicate that the Brazilian version of the FATCOD-BS is valid, in content and appearance, for use with speech-language pathologists. The thesis highlights the importance of assessing the competence of professionals who work in palliative care, with an emphasis on the performance of the speech-language pathologist. The findings show the absence of specific instruments for this area and highlight the relevance of adapting the FATCOD-BS as an alternative to fill this gap. In addition, the research reinforces the need to develop tools that include all members of the multidisciplinary team, favoring more integrated, effective and humanized care for people at the end of life. In this way, this thesis contributes to the strengthening of speech-language pathology in palliative care and to the development of strategies that allow for a more comprehensive and accurate assessment of professional practice.