Clinical data

to share, to cooperate, to treat

The in-situ DEMONEXT project : an open access clinical data strategy about derivational morphology

The French Health Authority – La Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) – encourages speech and language therapists to improve their professional practice in line with current scientific knowledge to provide effective therapy for patients.  However, implementing an evidence-based practice approach to treatment faces many limitations and variables (Durieux et al., 2016; O’connor et al., 2009; Broch, 2008; Maillart & Durieux, 2006; Zipoli et al., 2005; Mejias, 1999; Haack, 1993). The perceived barriers encountered by clinicians and reported by literature are: 

  • a feeling of illegitimacy to develop an evidence extraction methodology for clinical practice (Hegarty et al., 2018; McCurtin & Healy, 2016); 
  • the lack of sufficient training to keep themselves from methodological and cognitive biases in critically analyzing the information they have or will have in hand (Kahneman, 2012; Furlong et al., 2018); 
  • for non-English speakers, knowledge access is hindered by English-language scientific writing (Cattini & Clair-Bonaimé, 2017); 
  • a perception of a substantial gap (real and imagined) between clinic and research (Joffe & Pring, 2008; Hegarty et al., 2018; McCurtin & Healy, 2016).

Furthermore, over the past fifteen years, an endless number of studies have been collecting developmental, clinical, and cognitive-linguistic model data on the role of derivational morphology on language (Reed, 2008; St-Pierre, 2009) both in children and – more marginally – in adults. Promising clinical and pedagogical research avenues are exploring intervention models for derivational morphology disorders (primary or secondary outcomes) or the potential of derivational morphology to support effective skills such as spelling or vocabulary (as a better predictor of academic success) or the ability to generate complex forms and support lexical-semantic mechanisms in adults with neurological pathology (Goodwin & Ahn, 2010; Colé et al., 2004; Auclair-Ouellet et al., 2017). However, this field’s current state of knowledge highlights the need to develop methodologically valid approaches to transfer relevant empirical data to allow clinicians and educators to develop a rehabilitation or teaching protocol based on evidence-based intervention studies.  

For the DEMONEXT team of interdisciplinary researchers, the challenge of disseminating scientific data to the public of clinicians and educators, families, and patients/students is an exciting opportunity. However, respecting all knowledge and recognizing the diversity and equality of this knowledge, whether it is that of the researcher or that of the clinical and pedagogical actors, is a prerequisite condition for a sustainable commitment to this research program, the Agence Nationale de la Recherche. In this will of dissemination and transmission, we propose a corpus of downloadable and free-accessible syntheses of scientific articles with clinical and/or pedagogical orientation. The main objective of the article synthesis is to contribute to the dissemination of evidence in French for French-speaking clinicians and educators within the framework of the DEMONEXT Participatory Research Program. This document does not substitute an expert opinion. We strongly recommend consulting the original article. To discuss any appropriate adjustment, you can contact the scientific correspondent: Guillaume Duboisdindien, Ph.D. (Université de Lille), duboisdindien@hotmail.com. Enjoy your reading and stay curious! 

– The DEMONEXTians –

Podcasts oral communications

  1. Oral communication of the Demonext Project and a clinical illustration – Day of the supervisors in speech therapy – Université de Lille I University Department of Speech Therapy of Lille I G.Duboisdindien (2020 – 49 min 19). Please, click here.

DEMONEXT Participatory Research Program

Do you wish to join our Participatory Research Program? You are welcome to join us! Your help would contribute to the dissemination of scientific information in French to increase the access to knowledge of francophone professionals of pedagogy and Speech and Language pathology in the field of morphology and, more specifically, of derivational morphology.

For more information on the conditions of participation, please click on the link here.