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JCPSLP
Volume 17, Number 1 2015
Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology
support programs across years within a SP program at
the university, across a range of university programs with
lower male participation rates (e.g., occupational therapy,
nursing), or even SP programs across universities. Linking
male SP students to a male clinical educator for a clinical
placement or with a male speech pathologist/allied health
mentor (McKinson, 2007) may also help to reduce identified
feelings of isolation (Byrne, 2007) and marginalisation.
Support of males during the SP program may assist
completion of the SP program and the ongoing contribution
to the SP profession.
Addressing Indigenous Australian
participation rates
A lack of Indigenous Australians in the SP workforce is
consistent with low numbers reported across all health
professions (Hindmarsh, 2003; Pink & Allbon, 2008); similar
participation rates occur in health care for Indigenous
Canadians (Dafoe, 2000; Downey & Sweetwater, 2003).
Researchers have identified the training of Indigenous
Australians to deliver health care services (Australian Health
Ministers’ Advisory Council [AHMAC], 2011; Downey &
Sweetwater, 2003; Murray & Wronski, 2006; NSW Ministry
of Health, 2012) is a crucial step towards addressing the
discrepancies between the life expectancies and health-
related diseases between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians. The presence of Indigenous Australian staff has
been reported as a facilitator to Indigenous Australians
accessing mainstream health services (Martin & DiRienzo,
2012).
While there are positive signs that the number of
Indigenous Australian speech pathologists will increase
in the future, the support and encouragement required
to achieve this increase will need to occur at multiple
levels. A range of currently utilised strategies can be
applied to SP, for example university programs need
to ensure programs are culturally appropriate and
Indigenous Australian students (and staff) are culturally
safe. Such practice includes supporting students to be
both comfortable with, and understand the importance of,
identifying as Indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australian
cultural awareness training can help staff to understand
the disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians
(AHMAC, 2011; Martin & DiRienzo, 2012), and program
content should be considered in relation to Indigenous
Australians (Downey & Sweetwater, 2003).
Given the small number of Indigenous Australian
speech pathologists, it will be unlikely to be able to link
an Indigenous Australian SP student with an Indigenous
Australian SP clinical educator. However, when allocating
clinical placements for Indigenous Australian SP students,
universities should consider the general clinical environment
of the practice that the student will attend. For example,
they might seek a clinical placement with a SP service that
has other Indigenous Australian mentors available (NSW
Ministry of Health, 2012) or services present on-site (e.g.,
Indigenous Australian liaison officers), or that provides
services to Indigenous Australian clients or demonstrates a
commitment to providing culturally appropriate SP services
(Martin & DiRienzo, 2012), including: displaying Indigenous
Australian artwork, utilising Indigenous Australian SP
resources and articulating service values related to
commitment to culturally appropriate service delivery.
Ensuring careers advisors are aware of SP as a career
and “target” student groups may be essential to addressing
services has identified the following: there is clear evidence
that CALD health professionals are more likely to work with
CALD/underrepresented clients and these clients benefit via
communication and increased interpersonal care and
attendance at appointments. Further, it was reported that
increasing the proportion of CALD health professionals
would improve the quality of care that CALD clients receive,
including increasing likelihood of attendance and compliance
with health care services (US DHHS, 2006). Professional
exposure to a speech pathologist has been identified as a
key factor in influencing the decision to enter SP as a career
(Byrne, 2008a), highlighting a paradox where reduced
access to SP services by Indigenous Australians and
people from CALD groups will likely impact on the ability to
influence minority groups to enter a SP program.
Implications
Addressing male participation rates
There has been some discussion over the years in regards
to the sex imbalance in SP in Australia (Byrne, 2008b;
McAllister & Neve, 2005; Nickless, 2004) and while
recommendations have been made there has been little
co-ordinated effort to address the issue. SPA has taken
steps to promote the profession to males – see, for
example, the webpage titled: Real Men Do Speech
Pathology (Speech Pathology Australia, 2014b). This
webpage is accessed by selecting the “Information for the
community” then the “Education & Career opportunities”
option. There are three videos of male speech pathologists
and the content of these videos focuses on adult, acute
care technology (e.g., FEES, AAC). While that portion of the
SPA website aims to address this imbalance, it is not clear
if the strategy has been effective or sufficient on its own,
and further whether it may be counteracted by other
aspects of the website. For example, the front page of the
SPA website has a video which identifies a number of work
areas for speech pathologists (Speech Pathology Australia,
2014c), and while there is a male voice over, it shows
pictures only of female speech pathologists.
Byrne (2007) highlighted the low number of male SP
students was potentially isolating. For example, male SP
students report
“It is a bit of a social adjustment.…I don’t
like to be considered as ‘one of the girls’”
(p. 149) and
female SP students report:
“there only two guys here and
I don’t think they’re going to last long”
and
“I’d say that
males actually enrolled initially, are deterred by the fact
that there are a lot of females”
(p. 148). Male SP interest/
support groups (e.g., SPA Blokes in SP) and Internet
websites targeting male speech pathologists (e.g., The
Speech Dudes, 2014) are available, although it is not again
clear what role these may play in attracting males to SP,
facilitating completion rates or retention in the profession.
A co-ordinated and high level approach (e.g.,
professional associations, universities) in consultation with
male speech pathologists/ students is needed to implement
strategies aimed at increasing male SP participation rates.
Further, any identified strategies that are implemented
need to be evaluated for effectiveness. For example,
consideration needs to be given to promotional marketing
of SP (e.g., career presentations, SPA website; McKinson,
2007) to include males, working in various settings, with
various client groups and tapping into specific interest
areas identified by males (e.g., Byrne, 2008b). SP university
programs need to consider how males are supported in the
program. This support could include offering male peer-