Aphasia CRE Students were invited to present their research in a 10 minute presentation, we are pleased to share some of these with you in the lead up to our next Student Showcase being held in Nov 2022.
Aphasia CRE PhD candidate Jasvinder Sekhon from La Trobe University presents her research on “Enabling speech pathologists to feel confident and competent to provide counselling in post-stroke aphasia”
Aims: We aimed to identify what education enabled speech pathologists to feel confident and competent to provide counselling aimed at supporting psychological wellbeing in people affected by post-stroke aphasia.
Method: We identified evidence from a systematic review of what enabled speech pathologists to report being knowledgeable, skilled, and confident for supporting psychological wellbeing in post-stroke aphasia and used this evidence to develop an online counselling education program. Using a waitlist control, pilot RCT (n=49) we evaluated the preliminary efficacy of the training on speech pathologists’ confidence and self-rated competency for counselling in post-stroke aphasia.
Results: There were statistically significant improvements in speech pathologists confidence (F(1,44) = 23.388, p = .0005, partial η2 = .347) and self-rated competency (F(1,44) = 24.12, p = .0005, partial η2 = .354) for counselling immediately post training and at 5 week follow-up, with large effect sizes. There was strong interest in the program and recruitment targets were met within a month of advertising. A majority (84%) of participants completed all components of the pilot trial.
Discussion: An online program comprising of knowledge and skills practice in counselling to support psychological wellbeing in post-stroke aphasia improved speech pathologists’ self-efficacy and self-rated competency for counselling in post-stroke aphasia. A definitive trial and research to translate these findings to clinical practice is warranted.