McGill University, Canada; ReykjavíkurAkademían (The Academy of Reykjavik), Iceland.
İstanbul Medipol University, Turkey.
J Commun Disord. 2021 Jan-Feb;89:106057. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2020.106057. Epub 2020 Nov 19.
Public awareness of language impairment in childhood (Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)) has been identified as an important determiner of research and clinical service delivery, yet studies directly assessing public awareness are lacking. This study surveyed awareness across 18 countries of Europe.
A questionnaire developed by an international team asked whether respondents had heard of language impairment affecting children, what they thought its manifestations and causes were and where they had heard of it. Respondents were also asked whether they had heard of autism, dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and speech disorder. The questionnaire was administered to members of the public in 18 European countries. A total of 1519 responses were obtained, spanning 6 age groups, 4 educational level groups and 3 income level groups.
Across all but one country, significantly fewer people had heard of language impairment than any of the other disorders (or 60 % compared to over 90 % for autism). Awareness tended to be lowest in Eastern Europe and greatest in North-Western Europe, and was influenced by education level, age and income level. People in countries with overall low and overall high awareness differed in their views on manifestations and causes. People had heard of language impairment and autism the same way - most frequently through the media, including Internet, and less frequently through their child's school or a medical professional.
The study confirms that awareness of language impairment and knowledge of the breadth of its manifestations are low. It also suggests opportunities for how to increase awareness, including greater media coverage of language impairment and more efficient use of venues such as schools and healthcare. Ways in which cultural and linguistic differences may influence public awareness efforts are discussed, including the translatability of clinical labels and scientific terms. These may impact the acceptance of a common term and definition across all countries. As awareness campaigns are gaining momentum, the findings of this study can serve as a baseline against which to compare future findings.
公众对儿童语言障碍（发育性语言障碍 (DLD)）的认识已被确定为研究和临床服务提供的重要决定因素，但缺乏直接评估公众意识的研究。本研究调查了欧洲 18 个国家的意识。
一个由国际团队开发的问卷询问受访者是否听说过影响儿童的语言障碍，他们认为其表现和原因是什么，以及在哪里听说过。受访者还被问及他们是否听说过自闭症、阅读障碍、ADD/ADHD 和言语障碍。该问卷在欧洲 18 个国家的公众中进行了管理。共获得 1519 份回复，涵盖 6 个年龄组、4 个教育水平组和 3 个收入水平组。
除一个国家外，所有国家听说过语言障碍的人都明显少于其他任何疾病（语言障碍占 60%，而自闭症则超过 90%）。东欧的意识最低，西北欧的意识最高，受教育水平、年龄和收入水平的影响。总体上意识水平低和高的国家的人对表现和原因的看法不同。人们听说过语言障碍和自闭症的方式相同——最常通过媒体，包括互联网，而较少通过孩子的学校或医疗专业人员。
该研究证实，人们对语言障碍的认识和对其广泛表现的了解程度较低。它还提出了如何提高认识的机会，包括增加对语言障碍的媒体报道，以及更有效地利用学校和医疗保健等场所。讨论了文化和语言差异如何影响公众意识工作，包括临床标签和科学术语的可翻译性。这些可能会影响所有国家对通用术语和定义的接受程度。随着宣传活动的势头增强，本研究的结果可以作为未来研究的基准。
