TY - JOUR
T1 - Rural speech-language pathologists' perceptions of working with allied health assistants
AU - O’Brien, Rachael
AU - Byrne, Nicole
AU - Mitchell, Rebecca
AU - Ferguson, Alison
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Workforce shortages are forecast for speech-language pathology in Australia, and will have a more significant impact on rural and remote areas than on metropolitan areas. Allied health (AH) disciplines such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy address the problem of workforce shortages and growing clinical demand by employing allied health assistants (AHAs) to provide clinical and administrative support to AH professionals. Currently, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) don't work with discipline-specific allied health assistants in all states of Australia (e.g., New South Wales). This paper aims to provide insight into the perceptions of SLPs in one Australian state (NSW) regarding working with AHAs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight rural SLPs. Qualitative analysis indicated that participants perceived they had deficits in skills and knowledge required to work with AHAs and identified further training needs. Participants perceived the SLP role to be misunderstood and were concerned about poor consultation regarding the introduction of AHAs into the profession. Ambivalence was evident in overall perceptions of working with AHAs, and tasks performed. While previous research identified benefits of working with AHAs, results from this study suggest that significant professional, economic, and organizational issues need addressing before such a change should be implemented in speech-language pathology.
AB - Workforce shortages are forecast for speech-language pathology in Australia, and will have a more significant impact on rural and remote areas than on metropolitan areas. Allied health (AH) disciplines such as physiotherapy and occupational therapy address the problem of workforce shortages and growing clinical demand by employing allied health assistants (AHAs) to provide clinical and administrative support to AH professionals. Currently, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) don't work with discipline-specific allied health assistants in all states of Australia (e.g., New South Wales). This paper aims to provide insight into the perceptions of SLPs in one Australian state (NSW) regarding working with AHAs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight rural SLPs. Qualitative analysis indicated that participants perceived they had deficits in skills and knowledge required to work with AHAs and identified further training needs. Participants perceived the SLP role to be misunderstood and were concerned about poor consultation regarding the introduction of AHAs into the profession. Ambivalence was evident in overall perceptions of working with AHAs, and tasks performed. While previous research identified benefits of working with AHAs, results from this study suggest that significant professional, economic, and organizational issues need addressing before such a change should be implemented in speech-language pathology.
KW - Speech-language pathology
KW - pathologists
KW - allied health assistants (AHAs)
KW - workforce
KW - rural and remote
KW - perceptions
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84887633939&doi=10.3109%2f17549507.2012.759623&partnerID=40&md5=dc47fb2f7245a03a122a9197a3b595bb
U2 - 10.3109/17549507.2012.759623
DO - 10.3109/17549507.2012.759623
M3 - Article
C2 - 23390889
SN - 1754-9515
VL - 15
SP - 613
EP - 622
JO - International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
JF - International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
IS - 6
ER -