Résumé
The therapeutic distance is an important aspect of care relationships. It calls for a self-questioning practice from the speech therapist, harder to go through for speech therapists with a private practice. The goal of this study is to ascertain those therapist' tools and strategies in elaborating an appropriate therapeutic distance to theirs patients. Methods: 2471 speech therapists have been included to the study, regarding the following 3 screening criteria: they practice in France, in a private practice exclusively, and have been working as speech therapists for at least 3 years. A survey was sent to them by mailing. The datas have been collected and processed using the software Numbers. Results: 370 speech therapists answered the survey. They believe basic training to be lacking regarding therapeutic distance. Some are involved in continuous training to complete their knowledge or compensate encountered difficulties in this area. Most of them recommend for all speech therapists to seek advice and help from their colleagues. Conclusion: as seen in the state of the art, basic training is lacking regarding establishing an appropriate therapeutic distance. Most speech therapists encountering difficulties on that specific area elected to stop health care and refer their patient to a colleague. They choose, too, to reach out to others colleague informally and to share the patient care with an other speech therapist. These strategies, in their application, look like informal continuous training tools, such as supervision, APP or EPP.