Being deliverable in the NHS is a key facet of LUNA. We know this is no mean feat: discourse analysis is not currently clinically feasible. International research and our own survey data indicate a number of barriers, including SLTs reporting a lack of skills, knowledge, and confidence.
In July 2019, the LUNA team trained 58 eligible UK NHS SLTs across 2 days, in the use of 6 discourse analyses, at word, sentence, and discourse levels.
The training days were an opportunity to face these challenges around discourse analysis head on. We acknowledge that discourse analysis is usually complex, challenging and time consuming. We need analyses which are simpler, more straightforward, and relatively time efficient, so they can be used in everyday practice.
We’ll be looking at how far we got with addressing these challenges in data from the training days, crunched over the coming days and weeks. Tweets and feedback from the day suggest that SLTs enjoyed and got a lot from attending. Here’s a sneak peek:
https://wakelet.com/wake/1d86cb8b-4aff-4639-ac55-a11d7ba375e4
I am very excited to hear more about the training and how it can be rolled out. I have recently designed a new clinical linguistics module for SLT undergrads and keen to incorporate a strong focus on discourse analysis in aphasia. Good luck with the project-I will keeping my ear to the ground!
Lynda