Greenwood Nan, Wright Jannet A, Bithell Christine
Fuculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School, Tooting, and Kingston University, Kingston, UK.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2006 Jan-Feb;41(1):83-94. doi: 10.1080/13682820500177604.
Communication disorders affect both sexes and people from all ethnic groups, but members of minority ethnic groups and males in the UK are underrepresented in the speech and language therapy profession. Research in the area of recruitment is limited, but a possible explanation is poor awareness and understanding of speech and language therapy as a profession.
To investigate factors influencing attitudes to a career in speech and language therapy amongst UK school and college students focusing on the similarities and differences between males and females, and between minority ethnic and white students.
METHODS & PROCEDURES: A total of 651 male and female school and college students from a range of ethnic groups and all close to selecting degree courses completed a questionnaire designed to examine the attitudes and awareness of speech and language therapy. Eleven semi-structured follow-up interviews were conducted to help understand the questionnaire findings. Quantitative and qualitative analyses examined differences in attitudes and the awareness of speech and language therapy amongst these groups.
OUTCOMES & RESULTS: Overall, one-third of participants said they knew nothing about speech and language therapy, and males were significantly less familiar with it. Less than half the participants were aware that speech and language therapy is a degree course, and minority ethnic participants were significantly less likely to know this. Compared with males, females were almost five times as likely to say they would consider a career in speech and language therapy. Participants with relatives in health-related jobs were significantly more likely to consider speech and language therapy than those without such relatives. Compared with white participants, minority ethnic participants said they placed greater importance on studying for a degree, a profession and a scientific career, and were more influenced by a career's prestige and a high salary.
In order to increase the ethnic and gender diversity of speech and language therapists, the profile of the profession needs to be raised with increased awareness of the degree level courses, the scientific, evidence-based nature of the work, and current salary scales.
沟通障碍影响着各个性别和所有种族群体的人，但在英国，少数族裔成员和男性在言语和语言治疗专业中的占比不足。该领域关于招聘的研究有限，但一种可能的解释是对言语和语言治疗这一职业的认识和理解不足。
调查影响英国中小学及大学生对言语和语言治疗职业态度的因素，重点关注男性与女性之间以及少数族裔学生与白人学生之间的异同。
来自不同种族、即将完成学位课程选择的651名中小学及大学生完成了一份旨在调查对言语和语言治疗的态度及认识的问卷。进行了11次半结构化的后续访谈，以帮助理解问卷结果。定量和定性分析考察了这些群体在言语和语言治疗态度及认识上的差异。
总体而言，三分之一的参与者表示他们对言语和语言治疗一无所知，男性对其了解明显更少。不到一半的参与者知道言语和语言治疗是一门学位课程，少数族裔参与者知晓此事的可能性明显更低。与男性相比，女性表示会考虑从事言语和语言治疗职业的可能性几乎是男性的五倍。有从事与健康相关工作亲属的参与者比没有此类亲属的参与者更有可能考虑言语和语言治疗。与白人参与者相比，少数族裔参与者表示他们更重视攻读学位、从事一份职业和从事科学事业，并且更容易受到职业声望和高薪的影响。
为了增加言语和语言治疗师的种族和性别多样性，需要提高该职业的知名度，包括提高对学位水平课程、工作的科学性和循证性质以及当前薪资水平的认识。
