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Supporting social, emotional and mental health and well-being: Roles of speech-language pathologists
www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.auJCPSLP
Volume 19, Number 3 2017
157
Sally Hewat
(top), Joanne
Walters (centre)
and Thizbe
Wenger
THIS ARTICLE
HAS BEEN
PEER-
REVIEWED
KEYWORDS
CAPACITY
BUILDING
CLINICAL
EDUCATION
INTERNATIONAL
PARTNERSHIPS
NUSpeech
A model for international clinical placements in
speech-language pathology
Sally Hewat, Joanne Walters, Thizbe Wenger, Annemarie Laurence, and Gwendalyn Webb
important considerations when establishing international
clinical placement programs.
Between 2008 and 2010 speech-language pathology
student volunteers from UON visited Viet Nam with
Ms Sue Woodward to provide services, education and
information at various organisations. Anecdotal feedback
on the student experience was very positive (Amery, 2011;
Stevens, Peisker, Mathisen, & Woodward, 2010) and
stimulated further interest and opportunity for future clinical,
education and research collaborations.
With the support of Ms Sue Woodward and Trinh
Foundation Australia, throughout 2011 and 2012 academic
staff members from the UON visited and worked in
Viet Nam. During this time staff built trust, established
relationships, formalised partnerships and eventually
developed a clinical placement opportunity. In April
2013 the first three-week international clinical placement
in Viet Nam was trialled in partnership with the Kianh
Foundation Centre for the Development of Children with
Disabilities located in Bien Dan province, Central Viet
Nam, and graduate speech therapists from Pham Ngoc
Thach University of Medicine (UPNT) in Ho Chi Minh City.
AsiaBound and short-term mobility funding through the
New Colombo Plan (Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade, 2017) have enabled continuity of the program
and the Speech Pathology in Viet Nam (SPinVietNam)
placement program was formally established.
An informal evaluation of SPinVietNam was carried out,
involving key stakeholders – organisations in Viet Nam,
Vietnamese speech therapy graduates, UON students
and clinical educators. The results indicated that three
components of the international placement were essential
to its success: (a) adequate preparation (including careful
student selection), (b) variety in placement experiences,
and (c) opportunity for debrief and dissemination. The
three phases of the placement formed the basis of the
development of the early international placement model:
preparation, placement and debrief/dissemination (PPD)
model. Over four years, 47 final year speech-language
pathology students and eight different faculty staff (as
clinical educators) have been involved in assessable
clinical placements in Viet Nam (SPinVietNam). Reflection
in action (Schon, 1983, 1987), and a need to replicate
the program with different partner organisations and
in different countries, led to further development of the
early PPD model into the current NUSpeech international
clinical placement model for speech-language pathology
(NUSpeech). A summary of the development of the
NUSpeech model between 2008 and 2016 is provided in
Figure 1.
Since 2008, final year students in the speech-
language pathology program at the University
of Newcastle (UON) have had the opportunity
to gain clinical experience in Viet Nam. This
paper will share the development and structure
of NUSpeech, an international clinical
placement model that has evolved over the
past four years. The model incorporates key
principles of clinical education to ensure
students progress towards entry-level
competency, while actively engaging in
curriculum and implementing practices that
highlight sustainability, partnerships, and
capacity building for speech-language
pathology practice in majority-world countries.
S
peech-language pathologists and speech-language
pathology students have for some time now travelled
internationally to provide services and undertake
clinical placements in majority-world countries (e.g.,
McAllister et al., 2010; McAllister, Woodward & Nagarajan,
2016; Whiteford & McAllister, 2007; Wylie, McAllister,
Davidson & Marshall, 2016). Speech-language pathology
practice and training undertaken in these countries has
been driven by the very real need for services internationally,
as well as the well-documented benefits of international
clinical placements for students’ personal and professional
learning and growth (Amery, 2011; Simonelis, Njelesani,
Novak, Kuzma, & Cameron, 2011; Stevens, Peisker,
Mathisen, & Woodward, 2010).
Since 2014, the University of Newcastle (UON) speech
pathology discipline has obtained government support
for students to engage in clinical practice internationally.
This, combined with an increased number of commercially
operated student mobility organisations, has improved
opportunities available for students in this context.
However, alongside these opportunities, concerns have
arisen regarding the sustainability of services provided
during international clinical placements and whether
benefits extend to all stakeholders involved. Consideration
of these factors in addition to the slow but sustained
growth of speech-language pathology within majority-
world countries has led to a change in the context of
service provision. These contextual changes suggest
that partnerships, sustainability, and capacity building are