Sarah Northcott, Jamila Nasser, Iqra Nazim, Ayan Omar, Therese O’Regan, Niamh Devan, Nicolas Behn and Katerina Hilari
Clinical placements form a fundamental component of the learning process for Speech and Language Therapy students, enabling them to acquire clinical skills and link theory to practice. The current project involved City students in an innovative research project working with people with post-stroke aphasia, a language disability that affects talking, understanding, reading and writing.
The initial motivation for the research was to co-design a novel intervention that would address both language disability and emotional wellbeing, key priorities for people living with aphasia (Stroke Association, 2021, Wallace et al., 2017). We ran a series of co-design workshops with people with aphasia, family members, speech and language therapists and experts in a brief psychological therapy (Voorberg et al., 2015) developing a holistic language therapy that could be delivered by students and clinicians within busy clinical services. We then trialled the novel therapy with students in the City clinic. We wanted to learn from the students how they found delivering the therapy and how we could best support their learning journey. We took an iterative approach, refining the therapy based on the ideas and feedback of students and people with aphasia. Changes made included: simplifying some therapy components; refining how we selected therapy targets. We also worked with students on how best to support their learning, for example, providing further training on responding to distress.
Initial feedback from both people with aphasia and students has been positive. Students report the intervention has helped them to ‘see the person’, and deliver holistic language therapy. Next steps are to scale up this work, testing the therapy when delivered by students in NHS settings. Adopting a collaborative approach to student learning, and involving students in an integral way within the research process, may also be useful in disciplines beyond Speech and Language Therapy.
Background: overview of student clinical placements and research project (4 minutes).
Student learning: we will explore the collaborative approach of sharing expertise with students (Burns and Northcott, 2022). Within the therapy approach, the client is considered expert in their own lives; the Practice Educator brings expertise in clinical practice and pedagogy. We completed this circle by inviting the students to notice and build on their own expertise and competencies, and valued and respected their ideas while supporting their learning. We will reflect on how this may apply in other disciplines (6 minutes).
Student experience: the students are co-authors on this paper. The talk will explore their experiences including what they valued, their learning, and any challenges (6 minutes).
Conclusions: we will make the case for taking a partnership approach, and will argue there are unique benefits in bringing together research, student learning and clinical practice (4 minutes).
Learning outcomes:
1. Be able to reflect on the benefits and challenges of combining research and clinical placements.
2. Be able to describe the concept of shared expertise in a learning environment.
Indicative questions:
1. How has involving students enhanced the research process?
2. What learning from this project could be used in other disciplines and placements?
3. How do you see this work progressing?
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BURNS, K. & NORTHCOTT, S. 2022. Working with Solution Focused Brief Therapy in Healthcare Settings: A Practical Guide, London, Routledge. STROKE ASSOCIATION 2021. Shaping stroke research to rebuild lives: the Stroke Priority Setting Partnership results for investment.
VOORBERG, W. H., BEKKERS, V. J. & TUMMERS, L. G. 2015. A systematic review of co-creation and co-production: Embarking on the social innovation journey. Public management review, 17, 1333-1357.
WALLACE, S. J., WORRALL, L., ROSE, T., LE DORZE, G., CRUICE, M., ISAKSEN, J., KONG, A. P. H., SIMMONS-MACKIE, N., SCARINCI, N. & GAUVREAU, C. A. 2017. Which outcomes are most important to people with aphasia and their families? an international nominal group technique study framed within the ICF. Disabil Rehabil, 39, 1364-1379.
