Publication Date

2024

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Isabel, Jeanne

Second Advisor

Mazurek, Kathryn

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

School of Interdisciplinary Health Professions

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how clinical education can be leveraged to promote the cultural competence of aspiring clinicians. Cultural competence training is important in addressing health disparities and recommended in health professions education, but barriers exist to its implementation. This dissertation seeks to explore and appraise the literature on cultural competence instruction in rehabilitation education, evaluate the impact of a clinical education experience for speech language pathology (SLP) students on their perceived cultural competence, and assess the outcomes for clients receiving feeding therapy services from supervised SLP students, including the client perceptions of cultural competence and family centeredness.

Methods: This dissertation is completed as a three-paper dissertation using transformative mixed methods. Two theories, Campinha-Bacote’s Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Healthcare Services and Dollarhide, Stone, and Sabali’s model of Social Justice Supervision guided the design and implementation of three related research studies. The first study is an integrative review of the literature on cultural competence training in rehabilitation education. This integrative review used a targeted search and evaluated the literature using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool. The second manuscript is a mixed methods observational study of the impact of a clinical education experience on the perceived cultural competence of SLP students. The author collected pre-test and post-test data on the perceived cultural competence of students as well as qualitative data from journal entries and a focus group. Quantitative data analysis included paired t-tests, reliability tests, and correlation statistics. Qualitative data analysis consisted of thematic analysis of the findings from journal entries and a focus group. Finally, the third study evaluated the client outcomes of a feeding therapy camp delivered by supervised SLP students. The author collected pre-test and post-test data on participants’ feeding skills. Parents and caregivers were also asked to rate the cultural competence and family-centeredness of the intervention using two assessments. Paired t-tests and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data.

Findings: The integrative review included 34 studies for appraisal using the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool. The authors identified resources for educators wishing to include cultural competence teaching in their curriculum, such as outcome measures. The second study on the clinical education experience for SLP students found that students demonstrated improvements in their perceived cultural competence and reported growth after participation in the clinical education experience. Finally, clients who participated in the feeding therapy camp provided by SLP students demonstrated improvements in feeding skills and the parents and caregivers rated the intervention as culturally competent and family centered.

Implications: This dissertation adds to the body of knowledge about how to promote cultural competence among prospective healthcare providers. The integrative review summarizes literature and provides resources for educators. The two intervention studies provide a feasible model for delivering cultural competence education to clinicians in training while providing effective and culturally competent services to clients.

Extent

129 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

Download

Share

COinS