The Use of Crisis Intervention in the Rehabilitation of Laryngectomees

Abstract

Laryngectomee rehabilitation at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center’s Speech Pathology Clinic is based on crisis intervention theory. The speech pathologist and the social worker, working together to totally rehabilitate laryngectomees, identified four potentially crisis-precipitating events. The laryngectomee rehabilitation staff designed and applied interventive and preventive techniques for these situations. They include preoperative counseling of the patient as soon as possible after the need for the laryngectomy is confirmed and related to him, follow-up ward visits with him and his family, team counseling of the patient before his discharge, outpatient clinic visits after discharge, participation in the hospital’s chapter of the Lost Chord Club, and group interaction therapy one hour a week for 10 weeks.