Objective: This project was designed to evaluate the implementation of an efficacious voice treatment (LSVT LOUD) developed in the USA and designed to improve speech and voice disorders in Parkinson’s disease (PD) into scope of clinical speech practice in Germany.

Background: Implementation science is the study of methods that influence the integration of evidence-based interventions into real world practice settings (Center for Research in Implementation Science and Prevention (CRISP), 2015). This presentation will describe the implementation of LSVT LOUD, an efficacious voice treatment for PD, with three Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) documenting the short and long-term efficacy in the USA, into the clinical speech practice in Germany. As summarized by CRISP, the translation pathway of research lab efficacy into practice includes: “clinicians adopting the program and successfully implementing it into their setting and culture, the sustainability of the fidelity of the intervention and patients and payment agencies adopting the treatment as well”.

Methods: The translation pathway recommended by CRISP was followed, with emphasis on treatment fidelity. Thus a key element in the implementation process was training of speech clinicians.

Results: In collaboration with Deutscher Bundesverband fuer Logopaedie, 14 LSVT LOUD Training and Certification Workshops were held throughout Germany since 2000. As a result, today, there are over 1,300 LSVT LOUD Certified clinicians in Germany. With an estimate of over 15,000 patients in Germany having received LSVT LOUD. The LSVT Companion Software System (Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the M. J. Fox Foundation) has been translated into German and is being used by over 100 German clinicians in treatment and nearly 100 German patients in independent home practice. Clinical outcome data will be presented. Today LSVT LOUD is named as a treatment within the guidelines for neurologists who prescribe treatment (Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Neurologie (DGN). Health insurance reimburses the costs of LSVT LOUD.

Conclusions: LSVT LOUD has been implemented successfully into scope of clinical speech practice in Germany. Follow-up groups (LOUD for LIFE) are being initiated. This successful implementation model provides a road map for other countries where LSVT LOUD clinicians are trained (over 15,000 LSVT LOUD clinicians in 60 countries).

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/global-implementation-of-efficacious-voice-treatment-for-parkinsons-disease-lsvt-loud-germany/