# Evidence based practice in speech pathology

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## Objectives

Recently there has been a steady shift in the way consumers access information about their health conditions. The public is much more inclined to use the internet to source such information, particularly as a starting point before contacting a health professional. You are probably aware of times when you have used the internet to source information about something to do with your health. These internet sources include online fourms, websites and Wikipedia. Part of the reason these sources of information are popular is due to access. In most cases the public cannot access electronic databases to find research reported in journal articles but other internet sources, such as those mentioned, are available to anyone with the internet. These sources can also be accessed quickly, particularly given many people have the internet on their phone. As a speech pathologist you need to be aware of the nature of information being accessed by your clients. Often clients will come to see you having already spent a considerable amount of time researching their health concern.
The shift towards using the internet brings with it some inherent dangers, particularly related to the accuracy of the information being presented. Much information on the internet is presented unchallenged. There is often no peer review process to identify inaccuracies or inconsistencies. The purpose of this assignment is for you to use the speech pathology clinical scenario provided for you and design a client centred, evidence based resource related to the relevant area of practice. This resource will be a Wikiversity page that will include a plain language summary of the area of practice and a series of frequently asked questions (FAQs) based on the type of information clients are seeking related to your area of practice.

## Assignment description

You will complete this assignment during your allocated workshop times for the subject. We recognise that most if not all of you have no experience with creating and editing Wikiversity pages and as such you will be provided with suppport by a staff member with expertise in this area from week 7 of the subject. This includes online tutorials and online forums for questions. You should also consider sharing your knowledge and experiences with other students during the workshops as you will find that you learn the required skills quite quickly.
The first task for you to do is to sign on below to indicate your understanding of the assignment's objectives and description. This can be done in the 'Sign-on' section below.
The total word count for the assignment is 1500 words. There are two major parts that need to be completed (although not necessarily in this order):
* A 500 word plain language summary of the area of practice you are investigating. This is likely to be a specific intervention technique.
* A series of client relevant FAQs. These FAQs should be based upon your searches of relevant internet information sources such as websites, forums etc. Your job will be to answer these FAQs on the page by using evidence you sourced in the first search strategy assignment.

## Sign On

By **/**/2014 sign this page with your name to indicate acceptance of the assignment and your commitment to completing it by **/**/2014.

## Help

In this section you will find links to sources of information to help you complete this assessment.
--Shane Erickson (discuss • contribs) 03:32, 4 July 2014 (UTC)