National consensus on competencies for newly qualified speech and language therapists in Saudi Arabia: Current status and future perspective
Creators: name: Almashabi, Sara
name: Spencer, Sarah
name: Tattersall, Catherine
Publisher: name: F1000 Research Limited
Year: 2024

description: <b>Introduction: </b><br>
Each profession is unique in terms of the quality of performance of each graduate has and the tasks they are expected to be competent in. These are determined by both the workplace and the profession itself targeting what can be anticipated from graduates and accordingly dictate how tasks are coordinated and assigned by the time they enter the workplace. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis are to:

 Identify current practice among clinical educators in terms of supporting speech and Language Therapy (SLT) graduates during their internship year, to work towards reaching a level of clinical competency.
 To develop a competency framework based on international standards and local Saudi requirements.
 To identify the perceptions of different stakeholders in relation to newly qualified SLTs competencies.
 To empirically develop a model of competence for newly graduated SLTs based on the needs and concerns of Saudi Arabia.
 To inform assessment strategies.

This thesis used multiple studies to identify core competencies of newly graduated SLTs in Saudi Arabia. Thus, offering the health system an opportunity to standardize the required competencies based on the resulting framework. The goal of these studies is to apply a six-step model (Batt et al.,2021) and systematically develop a competency framework that incorporates systems thinking (Batt et al., 2021), acknowledging that an SLTs demonstration of competence occurs within broader structures and that competencies are utilized in complex real-life settings.  <br>
<b>Methods: </b>To investigate and explore current practice for newly graduated SLTs competent performance a literature review was initially conducted. This review was the first scoping review to systematically identify core competencies for speech and language therapy new graduates internationally. The development of the competency framework initially targeted identifying current practice through qualitative interviews of SLT clinicians who supervise and train SLT interns (study 1). Heads of communication sciences department in all health institutes that supervise SLT students in Saudi Arabia were contacted to suggest participants. All 12 institutes participated in this study. It was then followed by conducting qualitative interviews using critical incidents technique (CIT) and core activities with recently graduated SLTs who fulfilled their internship (study 2). This interview methodology aims to enable core activities and their underlying attributes to be described. The CIT was also used to identify critical information about behaviours in specific situations. To achieve triangulation of both stakeholders and methods; a consensus approach was used utilizing a two round Delphi study targeting experts with relevant experiences and/or knowledge (study 3). Twenty-seven experts participated in the Delphi study.  The first round was conducted through open ended questions addressing the suggested knowledge, skills, and behaviours for newly graduated SLTs. Content analysis was used for round 1 data and the generated themes, and their respective elements were then used for the second round.<br>
<b>Results: </b>14 publications were included in the scoping review, 8 from literature and 6 organizational frameworks. A total of 286 competency statements was revealed. Pooling these statements revealed a total of 51 core competencies that were then thematically analysed and produced 5 key themes namely communication, clinical skills, professional role and leadership, professional behaviours and professional growth. Interviews with SLT supervisors revealed different practices in terms of competence and assessment of SLT interns across the participating institutes. Participants encouraged unifying the competencies and the development of the competency framework. Resulting themes were mainly focused on the behaviours domain including communication, critical thinking and being initiative. Study 2 reports the perspectives of 22 recent graduates; analysis of this study is undergoing. Round one of study 3 coded 747 raw elements into 13 themes and 130 competency indicators which constituted the survey of the second round aiming for 85% agreement. Results for the Delphi study revealed 7 themes and 118 competency indicators. These themes are knowledge, clinical skills, professional demeanour, self-directed learning, interpersonal communication, safety and clinical decision making.<br>
<b>Discussion and Conclusion: </b>This thesis has sought to identify the most desirable newly graduated SLTs competencies in Saudi Arabia. It offers a systems thinking conceptual framework by which to explore, understand and further develop good practice in the views of different stakeholders. It also serves as a platform for the development and review of national and international competencies for SLT new graduates.