What Helps Speech-Language Pathology Students to Become Competent Clinicians in the Field of Voice?
Channel: Anna Rumbach
Date: 2020-05-12

What Helps Speech-Language Pathology Students to Become Competent Clinicians in the Field of Voice? An Investigation of Students' Perceptions



Anna Rumbach (BSc, MSpPathSt, GCHEd, PhD), Katherine Dallaston (BSpPath (Hons)) & Anne Hill (BSpThy, PhD)


Objective: Although not all Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) students will work with clients with voice disorders after graduation, all must achieve entry-level competency in this area of practice. 
The attainment of competency is influenced not only by the development of skills and knowledge, but also personal attitudes, values and abilities. Presently, there is limited research on the holistic factors influencing students’ development of competency in voice.  This study aimed to identify factors, perceived by students themselves, that help or hinder development of competency in voice. 

Methods: Focus groups interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 14 speech pathology students (93% female, mean age 22 years). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using template analysis.

Results: Students’ perceptions of influencing factors were grouped into two major themes: (1) personal factors, and (2) educational factors. A key finding was that many participants perceived a student’s own voice to be a major factor impacting their development and attainment of clinical competency in voice, and that mindsets towards the (un)changeability of students’ own voices varied across participants. Students with a performance background were considered to be at an advantage in terms of performing vocal tasks and suitability to work with specific populations. Key educational factors included access to and experience of demonstrations (face-to-face and video), additional training workshops, peer learning, and simulation.

Conclusion: This study identified a number of personal and educational factors that students perceive to impact the development of competency in voice. Consideration of these holistic factors may assist SLP educators to deliver optimally effective voice-related curricula.