Effect of the clinical practicum on attitudes toward prevention of communicative disorders

Abstract

During the last decade, prevention of human disabilities has become the focus of health care professionals. All three levels of prevention - primary, secondary and tertiary - must be reflected in the professional education; training, and attitudes of future speech-language pathologists if they are to keep abreast of this trend. The traditional exclusivity of focus on identification and treatment of existing communicative disorders must be coupled with emphasis on the elimination of the onset of communicative disorders and their causes and the promotion of the development and maintenance of optimal communication. To facilitate this growth and change in the profession, awareness of the terminology of prevention, the development and application of prevention strategies, and the role of the speech-language pathologist in these strategies must be instilled during the training of future clinicians. This study addressed the following question: Do clinical practica influence the attitudes of speech-language pathology students toward the prevention of communicative disorders? Two groups of subjects, thirty in each group, were studied. All of the participants were students matriculating in the Ball State University Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. The first group consisted of students enrolled in an introductory course in the speech-pathology curriculum. The second group was comprised of students enrolled in clinical practica. The subjects were each given a Liken Scale of Summated Ratings consisting of seventeen statements concerning prevention of communicative disorders. A t-test for independent measures was used to analyze the data obtained. The null hypothesis was that there is no statistically significant difference in attitudes toward prevention of communicative disorders between speech pathology students prior to clinical practica and those enrolled in practica. Results obtained from the two groups did not differ significantly and the null hypothesis was retained.