Wylie Karen, McAllister Lindy, Davidson Bronwyn, Marshall Julie
ENT Department, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana.
Work Integrated Learning Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Australia.
Afr J Disabil. 2018 Apr 12;7:338. doi: 10.4102/ajod.v7i0.338. eCollection 2018.
Workforce factors present a significant barrier to the development of rehabilitation services for people with communication disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Exploring how the work of speech and language therapists (SLTs) in the region is organised and delivered can provide insight into existing services, areas for future workforce development and improved rehabilitation access for people with communication disability.
This paper describes the employment and service provision patterns and work roles of a sample of SLTs in SSA.
A broad, purpose-designed, mixed-methods survey was designed to collect data from SLTs living in Anglophone countries of SSA. Descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis were undertaken. This paper reports on a subset of data from the wider survey.
A description of the employment and work roles of the 33 respondents to the survey and characteristics of their service users is presented. SLTs were commonly employed within private and not-for-profit sectors and frequently worked in temporary jobs. SLTs engaged in a range of work roles, including capacity building and training others. Services were provided by SLTs across age ranges, health conditions and settings, with paediatric, urban services commonly reported. Costs for service users and urban-centred services give indications of barriers to service access.
Knowledge of the way in which speech and language therapy services are organised and provided has the potential to shape the development of communication disability rehabilitation in SSA. This research has identified a range of issues requiring consideration as the profession develops and grows.
劳动力因素对撒哈拉以南非洲地区（SSA）沟通障碍者康复服务的发展构成了重大障碍。探索该地区言语和语言治疗师（SLT）的工作组织和开展方式，有助于深入了解现有服务、未来劳动力发展领域以及改善沟通障碍者的康复服务可及性。
本文描述了撒哈拉以南非洲地区言语和语言治疗师样本的就业、服务提供模式及工作角色。
设计了一项广泛的、专门设计的混合方法调查，以收集来自撒哈拉以南非洲地区英语国家的言语和语言治疗师的数据。进行了描述性统计和定性内容分析。本文报告了更广泛调查中的一部分数据。
介绍了33名调查受访者的就业和工作角色描述以及他们服务对象的特征。言语和语言治疗师通常受雇于私营和非营利部门，且经常从事临时工作。言语和语言治疗师承担一系列工作角色，包括能力建设和培训他人。言语和语言治疗师为各个年龄段、健康状况和环境的人群提供服务，常见的是儿科和城市服务。服务对象的费用以及以城市为中心的服务表明了服务可及性的障碍。
了解言语和语言治疗服务的组织和提供方式，有可能影响撒哈拉以南非洲地区沟通障碍康复服务的发展。本研究确定了一系列在该专业发展过程中需要考虑的问题。
