JCPSLP Vol 18 No 3 2016

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Creating sustainable services: Minority world SLPs in majority world contexts
JCPSLP Volume 18, Number 3 2016 131
KEYWORDS
INDIGENISED
PRACTICE
INNOVATION
MAJORITY-
WORLD
COUNTRIES
SPEECH-
LANGUAGE
PATHOLOGY
SUSTAINABLE
PRACTICES
VIETNAM
THIS ARTICLE
HAS BEEN
PEER-
REVIEWED
Nguyen Thi Ngoc
Dung (top) and
Le Khanh Dien
that SLP students in these new courses can interrogate
“transplanted” information for its relevance and develop
culturally relevant knowledge and clinical practice skills;
that is, “indigenise” their knowledge and practices (see for
example Hauser, Howlett, & Matthews, 2009). Furthermore,
it is important that majority-world practitioners are able to
share with minority-world clinicians innovative “indigenised”
approaches to the problems they face in practice, to enable
two-way learning (Walsh, 2016).
This paper presents vignettes highlighting innovation,
indigenisation and plans for future development by
graduates of two-year postgraduate courses in speech-
language pathology, and where appropriate their
Australian mentors. The first vignette in this paper comes
from Vietnamese academic Dr Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung,
recognised as the champion for the development of
speech-language pathology in southern Vietnam. Her
leadership enabled the development of the two-year
postgraduate course at University Pham Ngoc Thach. Four
graduates of this course, known to be doing innovative
work to develop SLP education and services, were
approached to write four vignettes for the paper.
Vignette 1. Background to speech-
language pathology education in
south Vietnam
Prof Ngoc Dung, professor of ENT and former rector
of the University Pham Ngoc Thach, Ho Chi Minh City
As an ENT doctor and former director of the ENT Hospital
of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) I know that speech therapy1 is
vital in the treatment and rehabilitation of people with
communication and swallowing impairments. Speech
therapy training in HCMC started in 2009 with a short
course run by Trinh Foundation Australia at the ENT
Hospital for doctors, nurses and audiologists on aspects of
speech therapy. Becoming rector of University Pham Ngoc
Thach in HCMC enabled the development and delivery of
two 2-year postgraduate courses (2010–12 and 2012–14)
run at University Pham Ngoc Thach with support from Trinh
Foundation Australia and Australian Volunteers International
(see McAllister et al., 2013). Thirty-three graduates from
those two courses have established speech therapy clinics
and services, mostly in public hospitals, in Ho Chi Minh City,
Hue, Hanoi, Vung Tau, Bau Loc and other provinces. With
the management of the speech therapy office at University
Pham Ngoc Thach, the support of Trinh Foundation
Australia and Australian Volunteers for International
This paper presents vignettes of innovations
in speech-language pathology practice in
Vietnam, and situates these in the larger
context of global considerations impacting
on speech-language pathology education and
service delivery. The paper provides an
introductory vignette setting the context for
four more vignettes from speech-language
pathologists in southern Vietnam. The
graduates’ vignettes illustrate a range of
innovative, sustainable, indigenised and
culturally relevant developments in speech-
language pathology practice and education.
Two vignettes highlight the use of volunteers
and the available health and education
workforce to develop sustainable new
services for children and adults with
communication disorders. Two vignettes
illustrate innovative and culturally appropriate
ways of indigenising curricula and
approaches to educating the Vietnamese
public and the existing health workforce
about communication and swallowing
disorders and speech-language pathology
services. The paper invites readers to reflect
on what speech-language pathology globally
might learn from our colleagues in majority-
world countries.
Collaborations between clinicians and academics
in minority-world (developed) and majority-world
(developing) countries have been successful in
establishing speech-language pathology (SLP) education
and services in many majority-world countries (for examples
from nine such countries, see the International Journal
of Speech-Language Pathology, 2013, vol. 15, issue
1). However, there is a risk of post-colonialism (Nixon
et al., 2015) when minority-world curricula or practices
are transferred into new SLP courses in majority-world
countries. That is, what comes from minority-world
countries can be privileged over local knowledge and
practices, in the assumption that “west is best”, even
when it may not be culturally relevant or the knowledge
applicable in new contexts. Therefore, it is important
Practice innovations from the
emerging speech-language
pathology profession in Vietnam
Vignettes illustrating indigenised and sustainable
approaches
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, Le Khanh Dien, Christine Sheard, Le Thi Thanh Xuan, Trà Thanh Tâm, Hoàng
Văn Quyên, Le Thi Dao, and Lindy McAllister