PURPOSE This qualitative study investigated the lived experience of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who self-identify as overwhelmed. The goal was to devise a formal explanation of the reasons for such overwhelm. METHOD Seven elementary and five secondary school SLPs in two separate focus groups discussed the following questions: (a) How are you advocating for your needs as an SLP? (b) Do you know how to advocate for yourself? (c) How confident are you in advocating for your needs? (d) Do you feel safe to advocate for your needs? Data were analyzed according to the tenets of grounded theory, resulting in a formal theoretical model. RESULTS Participants indicated an invisible workload for school-based SLPs consisting of three major factors. One, involved parties (teachers, administrators, parents, etc.) do not understand SLPs' roles and responsibilities; as a result, SLPs have to advocate for themselves relentlessly. Two, organizational structure all but ensures that their advocacy is unsuccessful. Three, SLP culture, consisting of perfectionism and a tendency to lack boundaries, exacerbates the situation. A mitigating factor was also identified. SLPs who set boundaries firmly and advocate collectively fare better than SLPs who do not. However, even they are often ineffectual in the face of structural barriers. CONCLUSIONS Results indicated a direction for future research. A survey instrument that captures the dimensions of SLP overwhelm identified in this study should be deployed to assess the prevalence and severity of these issues. Also, it is argued that top-down action by systems-level players is paramount to addressing school-based SLP overwhelm.

中文翻译：

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被认定为不堪重负的学校语言病理学家的无形工作量：一项扎根理论研究。

目的 这项定性研究调查了自我认为不堪重负的学校语言病理学家 （SLP） 的生活经历。目标是对造成这种不堪重负的原因做出正式解释。方法 两个独立焦点小组中的 7 名小学和 5 名中学 SLP 讨论了以下问题： （a） 作为 SLP，您如何倡导您的需求？（乙）你知道如何为自己辩护吗？（c） 你对倡导自己的需要有多大信心？（丁）你觉得可以安全地提出自己的需要吗？根据扎根理论的原则对数据进行分析，从而产生正式的理论模型。结果 参与者表示，基于学校的 SLP 的无形工作量由三个主要因素组成。第一，相关方（教师、管理人员、家长等）不了解 SLP 的角色和责任;因此，SLP 必须坚持不懈地为自己辩护。第二，组织结构几乎确保了他们的倡导不成功。第三，由完美主义和缺乏界限的倾向组成的 SLP 文化加剧了这种情况。还确定了一个减轻因素。坚定设定界限并倡导集体的 SLP 比不这样做的 SLP 表现得更好。然而，即使是它们，在面对结构性障碍时也往往无效。结论 结果为未来的研究指明了方向。应部署一种调查工具，以捕捉本研究中确定的 SLP 不堪重负的维度，以评估这些问题的普遍性和严重性。此外，有人认为，系统级参与者的自上而下的行动对于解决以学校为基础的 SLP 不堪重负至关重要。