Masters Thesis

Graduate students’ perspectives on moderate to severe communication disabilities and its impact

It has been argued that when applied to practice for health professionals, the medical and social models sit at either end of a spectrum but neither fully captures the life experience of people with disabilities (Roush & Sharby, 2011). In response, academics have proposed a perspective to view the experience of individuals with disabilities from a more holistic standpoint, the embodied perspective, or biopsychosocial model. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association supports this model through listing the use of the ICF as part of the role of being a speech-language pathologist. However, SLP education and terminology is still largely rooted in the medical model (Gravel, 2003). Primary research has demonstrated that when students are exposed to the social model of disability their perspectives shift to draw on aspects of both medical and social models. However, there is limited research exploring student perceptions of disability and its impact on their experiences with individuals with disabilities. The current study seeks to expand on previous research and explore whether familiarity with the social model influences students’ perceptions of their role as future SLPs and experiences with the population. 47 first and third semester graduate SLP students at San Francisco State University participated in focus groups to discuss four questions about their experience with and perceptions of individuals who have “moderate to severe communication disorders.” The students also completed a follow-up survey about their knowledge of the medical and social models. Results demonstrated that students aligned their role as SLPs most with the biopsychosocial model of disability. In addition, students more familiar with the social model were more likely to share positive experiences with individuals with moderate to severe communication disorders. Students shared negative experiences regardless of their familiarity with the medical and social models of disability. Further results and implications for graduate education and clinical practice are discussed.

Relationships

In Collection:

Items in ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.