Psychosocial factors, but not professional practice skills, linked to self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice in school‐based speech and language therapists during COVID‐19 pandemic

Background Face‐to‐face class suspensions during the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic in 2019 increased telepractice in speech and language therapy. However, little is known about speech and language therapists’ (SLTs) perceived effectiveness of telepractice and its antecedents. Aims To exami...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:International journal of language & communication disorders Jg. 58; H. 1; S. 111 - 123
Hauptverfasser: Lam, Joseph Hin Yan, Chiu, Ming Ming, Lee, Stephen Man Kit, Tong, Shelley Xiuli
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: United States Wiley 01.01.2023
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Schlagworte:
Allied Health Personnel
Antecedents
Attitudes
Barriers
Client characteristics
Clinical medicine
Confirmatory factor analysis
COVID-19
Criteria
Effectiveness
Factor analysis
Foreign Countries
Humans
Language
Language therapy
Language Therapy - methods
Medical treatment
Pandemics
Polls & surveys
Professional attitudes
Professional Development
Professional practice
Professional training
Program Effectiveness
Psychological aspects
Psychosocial factors
Respondents
School Closing
Schools
school‐based speech and language therapy
Selection criteria
service delivery
Speech
Speech Language Pathology
Speech therapists
Speech therapy
Speech Therapy - methods
Speech-language pathologists
Student attitudes
Students
Telemedicine
telepractice
Therapists
Videoconferencing
Work skills
Hong Kong
Hong Kong China
China
COVID-19
school-based speech and language therapy
telepractice
service delivery
attitudes
ISSN:1368-2822, 1460-6984, 1460-6984
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Background Face‐to‐face class suspensions during the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic in 2019 increased telepractice in speech and language therapy. However, little is known about speech and language therapists’ (SLTs) perceived effectiveness of telepractice and its antecedents. Aims To examine the use of telepractice and the factors affecting its perceived effectiveness in Hong Kong mainstream schools during COVID‐19. Methods & Procedures Seventy‐two school‐based Hong Kong SLTs completed a 110‐item online survey with six structural components: (1) concerns, (2) adoption, (3) student selection criteria, (4) perceived effectiveness, (5) continuous professional development and (6) attitudes/beliefs. Outcomes & Results Over 90% of respondents adopted telepractice during the pandemic. Confirmatory factor analysis identified reliable constructs from their component measures. These participants reported great telepractice difficulties (especially in therapy preparation and managing students’ attention and/or communication). Mixed‐response analysis revealed that psychosocial factors (i.e., students’ engagement and SLTs’ attitudes towards telepractice) but not professional practice skill factors (i.e., student client selection criteria and SLTs’ years of experience in school settings) contributed to SLTs’ self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice. Conclusions & Implications Our findings suggest that psychosocial factors play a more important role than professional practice skill factors in the self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject Previous surveys reported that although SLTs were interested in using telepractice before the COVID‐19 pandemic, they showed concern about its effectiveness, resulting in a low adoption rate. One critical question naturally arises: What factors may affect the perceived effectiveness of telepractice by SLTs? What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study demonstrates for the first time that despite the high adoption rate of telepractice during the COVID‐19 pandemic, school‐based SLTs exhibited great difficulties, and the SLTs’ self‐perceived effectiveness of telepractice was related to psychosocial factors instead of professional practice skill factors. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work Professional support is needed to alter the attitudes of SLTs towards telepractice for enhancing their self‐perceived effectiveness and positive clinical practice experience.
Bibliographie:Funding information
This study was supported by funding from the General Research Fund (grant numbers 17621321 and 17620520) and the Research Fellow Scheme (grant number RFS 2021‐7H05) of the Hong Kong Government Research Grant Council to Dr Shelley Xiuli Tong.
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:1368-2822
1460-6984
1460-6984
DOI:10.1111/1460-6984.12773