South African Speech Language Pathologists’ Practice Patterns Relating to the Use of Thickened Liquids in Adults with Dysphagia

This dataset was deposited to comply with the University of Cape Town’s data management and storage guidelines for postgraduate research involving human participants. It underpins a Master of Science dissertation in Speech-Language Pathology conducted at the University of Cape Town under the supervision of A/Prof. Shajila Singh. The study examined South African Speech-Language Pathologists’ beliefs, clinical practices, and decision-making processes regarding the use of thickened liquids in adults with dysphagia.The dataset comprises three components: (1) pilot study data, (2) main study data, and (3) formatted main study data, collected using a cross-sectional online survey administered via Qualtrics. The questionnaire included sections on participant demographics and professional background, beliefs about thickened liquids, clinical practices employed prior to implementing thickened liquids, factors influencing decision-making to use thickened liquids, and scenarios related to the discontinuation of thickened liquids. The data include categorical, ordinal (Likert-scale), and continuous variables derived from self-report responses.Participants were qualified Speech-Language Pathologists registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and currently practising in South Africa. Participation was voluntary. Participants were given the option of entering a competition to win a Takealot voucher upon completion of the questionnaire; entry into the competition required the provision of an email address for contact purposes only. These email addresses were stored separately from survey responses and were deleted after the prize draw and prior to the commencement of data analysis. No identifying information is included in the deposited dataset. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the University of Cape Town Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC: 483/2024).The dataset has been cleaned and prepared for analysis and is deposited for long-term preservation, auditability, and research transparency. Access to the data is governed by repository-level access controls in accordance with ethical approval conditions. The data are not intended for commercial use and are shared to support verification of the reported analyses and responsible secondary research, where appropriate.