Health care workers are finding themselves in an era of change with regard to
service rendering. Health care workers need to be prepared for these changes
during their training. The most important change in the transformation
process of health care is the focus on primary health care and associated
community-orientated and community-based services. To ensure that the
training of prospective speech therapists and audiologists (the health care
workers) is applicable with regard to preparing for service, the curriculum
must be such that the expected outcome will be achieved through the
education and training students receive.
There are, however, also changes with regard to training in the policies and
regulations of higher education that must be adhered to. In order to adapt to
all the changes in health care service and the changes in policies and
regulations for training, it is necessary to change and adapt the strategies for
training too. Training and service rendering can only be effective if it meets
with the requirements of the relevant professional board, health care bodies
and the regulating bodies of higher education. The requirements of health
care and education and the associated changes, however, necessitate a
review of curricula for education and training programmes. When a new curriculum has to be developed or an existing curriculum is
reviewed, the process is to be conducted according to specific steps and
various factors need to be attended to. If these steps are defined and the
factors that influence the education and training together with the
requirements regarding content, the education and training process and the
desired outcomes are described, it is called a framework for the programme.
The research problem defined, was that no guidelines or framework existed
according to which a curriculum for a training programme for speech therapy
and audiology could be adapted, revised or developed. This led to the
formulation of the research question, namely: What should be included in a
framework for an undergraduate education and training programme to ensure
that the training programme meets the requirements of the above mentioned
bodies?
The main purpose of this study was to make a contribution to health care in
South Africa by making a contribution to the education and training of a
group of health care workers. The goal was to compile a framework for
undergraduate education and training programmes for speech therapy and
audiology. In order to achieve the goal, a comprehensive literature study was
conducted to study curriculum development, existing curricula and the
requirements of relevant bodies. A concept framework was developed and
verified by an empirical study through the application of the Delphi technique.
The data were processed and analysed and the final product, a framework for
the training programme for undergraduate speech therapy and audiology,
was established.
The literature study served as the basis of this investigation. The Delphi
technique was applied to verify the concept framework that had been developed on the basis of the literature study. The concept framework initially
consisted of 183 statements, describing aspects and elements of the
curriculum design process and content of the curriculum. Each statement was
to be judged according to a three-point rating scale, namely essential,
desirable and irrelevant. The criterion for reaching consensus was
predetermined, namely 75% of the number of ratings on any of the items in
the questionnaire had to correspond. The panel of experts (eight) that took
part in the Delphi process included heads of departments of the various
training institutions in South Africa, an educational expert and an expert
representative of the Professional Board for Speech, Language and Hearing
Therapy. A pilot study to determine the validity and reliability of the research
instrument (the questionnaire) had been conducted before the research
instrument was sent to the participants in the Delphi process. With the completion of round three, consensus on the items in the Delphi
questionnaire was on 96.77%. Stability was also reached in round three, as
the items on which consensus was not reached, showed the same responses
with regard to rating since round one. The Delphi process was therefore
ended after round three and the final framework was compiled based on the
results of the Delphi investigation, in other words, the responses of the
participants.
The framework is of great value for programme development, as professionspecific
information and requirements of stakeholders are contained within
the framework, thereby facilitating the task of experts in educational
development involved with programme development for speech therapy and
audiology. It is recommended that the programme be used by institutions as a guideline
for the development of innovative undergraduate training programmes for
speech therapy and audiology. It can also be used for revising and/or
evaluating existing training programmes, as well as for the accreditation of a
training programme.
The content elements of the framework may be adapted and changed, if and
when the requirements of the relevant professional board and the
requirements of health care services and education change, as well as
according to changes in the needs of students and needs of the community.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-06132007-150948 |
| Date | 13 June 2007 |
| Creators | van Pletzen, Helena Catheriena |
| Contributors | Prof MM Nel, Dr MJ Bezuidenhout |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-06132007-150948/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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