A Study on the Current Status and Needs of Counseling Curriculum in Communication Disorders in Korea

Objectives: Counseling is an essential component of the treatment of communication disorders. Clinicians and students in the field have reported a necessity for the incorporation of counseling courses into speech-language pathology practice. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the current status of a counseling curriculum in the field of communication sciences and disorders, and to present the professors’ and speech-language pathologists’(SLP) perceptions of the counseling curriculum.Methods: A web-based questionnaire regarding the current status and need for the counseling curriculum was developed and distributed to professors in undergraduate and graduate programs and to SLPs in clinical settings. Responses from a total of 66 professors and 121 SLPs were collected and were used for the analysis.Results: Overall, 66.7% of undergraduate programs and 26.9% of graduate programs offer a counseling course within the department. Also, 100% and 85.1% of professors in undergraduate and graduate programs reported the need for counseling education and training in the field of communication disorders respectively. A strong majority of SLPs (95.7%) also felt counseling courses are needed. By clinical areas, SLPs working in language development disorders reported the highest need (25.4%) for counseling courses, followed by neurological disorders and fluency disorders.Conclusion: The results show that the need for counseling programs was high among professors and clinicians. Thus, the implementation of a systematic and adequate counseling curriculum in the field of communication disorders is suggested.

A Survey of Counseling Curricula Among Accredited Communication Sciences and Disorders Graduate Student Programs

Purpose The purpose of this article is to examine the current state of counseling curriculum within the discipline. The last systematic survey of counseling curriculum within the disciplines of communication sciences and disorders was completed with data from 1983 (McCarthy et al., 1986). The Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (2017) states that counseling should be included in accredited programs but does not specify to what extent. Currently, there are no standards to specify number of credits, need for a stand-alone course, or guidance regarding content delivered. Method The present investigation collected data on the status of counseling curricula in accredited communication sciences and disorders graduate programs. A Qualtrics survey was distributed to identify counseling curriculum practices across accredited programs. Quantitative data such as percentages and frequency counts were compiled to summarize program offerings. Qualitative analyses were used to characterize written responses. Survey responses were also cross-validated with a review of offerings listed on program websites. Results Of programs currently accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, 42.4% responded to the current survey. Fifty-nine percent of programs offer a stand-alone course. Review of curricula from program websites indicated that only 40% of accredited programs offer a stand-alone counseling course. Quantitative details about requirements, number of credits, and embedding counseling within other courses were compared to data from the 1983 survey. Qualitative analyses identified common learner outcomes and the nature of course or curricular content. Conclusions Investigators found a lack of consistency in incorporating counseling across programs and discussed implications of this in speech-language pathology practice. A decrease in the number of programs that offer a stand-alone counseling course was identified as compared to offerings in 1983, as well as a disparity regarding how programs provide training in counseling. Furthermore, survey responses differed from curriculum listings on program websites. Information derived from this study may serve as a starting point for the development of flexible standards that provide direction for achieving consistent preparation of counseling skills. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12149703