Leadership education in allied healthcare graduate programs: what does the curriculum reveal?
Authors: Tolan Cara 
Published: September 2024

Purpose

The purpose was to examine the core curriculum of the top 50 graduate programs in occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), nursing, speech-language pathology (SLP) and audiology programs. The study aimed to answer the following questions: Do SLP and audiology program curricula include leadership in course offerings? How do their leadership offerings compare to those of other healthcare graduate programs? It was hypothesized that SLP and audiology programs included fewer leadership courses than other healthcare graduate programs.

Design/methodology/approach

This quantitative analysis evaluated the core coursework of the 250 healthcare graduate programs. The data sample included the top 50 OT, PT, nursing, speech-language pathology (SLP) and audiology programs. The graduate programs were examined for leadership content within the core coursework. A thematic text coding guide was developed following the “Ready, Willing, and Able” leadership model created by Keating, Rosch and Burgoon (2014). A Chi-Square was used to test for a categorical relationship between the graduate programs and leadership curricula. A percentage was calculated for each field to determine the number of schools offering a leadership component within their core curriculum.

Findings

The study revealed that SLP and audiology graduate programs are less likely to include leadership within the curriculum. Descriptive percentages revealed that 68% of nursing, 82% of OT, 42% of PT, 12% of audiology and 6% of SLP graduate programs included a leadership component within the core coursework. Based on the study findings, it is concluded that there is a missed opportunity for leadership preparation within the SLP and audiology curriculum. Leadership education is a crucial component to consider when developing competent clinical leaders. Following the findings, leadership development for SLP and audiology graduate programs is recommended.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of this study is that data collection relied on a single source, US News Educational Rating, to obtain the program rankings. However, US News Rankings is reliable and readily available. Another limitation is the overwhelming lack of literature on speech-language pathology and audiology leadership education. Finally, most programs had the curriculum and progression schedule publicly available on their website, but not all. Some programs do not make the curriculum information available to the public online. To minimize this limitation, the researcher contacted one or more programs via email to clarify their curricula.

Practical implications

This study serves as a starting point for further exploration into leadership education for SLP and audiology graduate programs. It suggests curriculum considerations, such as leadership development and identifies the need for future research. The literature review hints at a potential correlation between different leadership styles and profession selection, a hypothesis that could be further investigated. This underscores the urgency and potential for future research in this area, particularly for prospective students.

Originality/value

This study breaks new ground in the field of healthcare education. It is the first of its kind to investigate leadership education in SLP and audiology graduate programs. The researcher’s review of literature, research questions, study design, analysis and findings are all original contributions. The work has been synthesized and triangulated, adding unique insights to the field. This study’s originality is a crucial first step for SLP and audiology graduate programs, sparking a focus on leadership within the curriculum.