Unit rationale, description and aim
Speech pathologists have a key role in working with communities to support and advocate for communication and swallowing needs as a basic human right. Working with communities, speech pathologists are able to facilitate meaningful and evidence based preventative, promotional and/or educational projects that are based on identified community needs and assets. Research and project-based work are core competencies required by Speech Pathology Australia at entry into the profession.
In this unit, students will explore the role of speech pathologists in advocating for, and creating, optimal environments that facilitate successful communication, mealtime and swallowing experiences. They will consider ways in which communication and swallowing needs relate to human rights, human dignity, ethics, and the Common Good.
Students will be required to analyse community-based data to identify health needs related to communication, mealtimes and swallowing, and to plan a project to address the environmental factors (both social and physical) that may act as barriers to participation in these activities. As part of this subject, students will undertake community engagement, to deepen their understanding around working with community.
Additionally, this unit contains a learning outcome from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework (HCF, 2014) specifically addressing the HCF cultural capability- Clinical presentations.
The aim of the unit is for students to recognise the work of the speech pathology profession as it relates to individual, targeted and universal/systemic services, in particular to community development and public health initiatives, and to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate skills in working with communities to address their goals and needs.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Analyse what contributes to a community, the role ...
Learning Outcome 01
Utilise research, scientific process, and particip...
Learning Outcome 02
Demonstrate understanding of the role of speech pa...
Learning Outcome 03
HCF 9.3* Apply local epidemiology and population h...
Learning Outcome 04
Engage in participatory approaches to working with...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
Public Health
- Human rights, health/education/disability policies
- Tiers of service provision: universal, population, targeted and specialized/individual
- Public health (universal and population provision), the Common Good and Ethics
- Speech pathology, public health and health promotion
Frameworks and models that support community-centred practice
- ICF in the context of community centred practice
- Social determinants of health: role of social determinants in the development and maintenance of communities, diversity and intersectionality
- Access and equity
- Speech pathology and environmental factors
- Culture and culturally responsive practice
- Sustainable development goals
- Principles of community-based rehabilitation: global and local considerations
Scientific process in community/public health
- Defining Community and Community-centred practice
- The scientific process and community/public health
- Undertaking a needs and asset assessment/analysis
- Consulting and collaborating with groups and services through participatory and co-design approaches
- Building a community profile
- Using evidence to support project development
Community-centred projects
- Developing strategic partnerships; building capacity
- Strategies and processes for development and implementation of community projects
- Monitoring and evaluation of community-centred projects
Assessment strategy and rationale
This unit provides students with opportunities to demonstrate their learning across three assessment items and one hurdle task, utilising different modalities.
Assessment 1 (Community profile) requires the completion of a needs analysis and community profile, which will be undertaken as a group. Students will be required to apply research skills introduced in years 1 and 2 of the program, such as literature searching, analysis and synthesis, data collection, analysis, integration and interpretation, to a community. Application of these research skills will enable them to identify assets and needs related to communication and/or swallowing within a given community, and barriers and facilitators to participation.
Assessment 2 (Community project) is a group task and requires students to draw upon Assessment Item 1 and community consultation to plan an appropriate project to target the communication and/or swallowing need identified.
Assessment 3 (Reflection) is an individual task, where students reflect on their engagement with community, demonstrating how theory has informed their understanding of their role in working with communities. This will be undertaken via a series of prompt questions throughout the unit, to ensure students are undertaking regular, scaffolded reflection. Students must pass this assessment task to pass the unit overall (graded hurdle). Assessment 3 is a graded hurdle because it is the only graded task that explicitly assesses learning outcome 5. Students have one extra attempt at this assessment task if they fail on their first attempt, provided that their overall unit grade is 50% or above.
The Ungraded Hurdle task (Community engagement and consultation) requires students to attend mandatory community engagement sessions and contribute to community engagement activities, as specified in the unit outline.
It is an expectation of Speech Pathology Australia that students participate in research with others, and that they complete preventative, promotional and/or educational projects during their training. These assessment tasks are designed to provide students with these opportunities, so as to meet the competencies required for entry-level speech pathologists.
Overview of assessments
Assessment 1: Community profile Students will wo...
Assessment 1: Community profile
Students will work in groups to gather and analyse data about a community to explore health needs relevant to speech pathology.
25%
Assessment 2: Community Project Students will wo...
Assessment 2: Community Project
Students will work in groups to co-design a project that would address the communication/swallowing needs of a community.
25%
Assessment 3 (Graded Hurdle): Reflection This in...
Assessment 3 (Graded Hurdle): Reflection
This individual assessment enables students to articulate their knowledge and understanding of the speech pathology role in community-centred practice, and their experience working with community via a written reflection.
50%
(Graded Hurdle)
Ungraded Hurdle: Community Consultation and Commu...
Ungraded Hurdle: Community Consultation and Community Engagement
Students must attend community engagement sessions and contribute to community engagement activities, as specified in the unit outline.
Pass/ Fail
(Ungraded Hurdle)
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit applies a learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge relating to the role of speech pathologists in advocacy and community development, to extend their understanding of the scientific method and its application in community projects, and to apply this learning in the development of a public health project related to speech pathology. This learning strategy will combine asynchronous learning, in which key information will be presented to students, and interactive tutorials, in which students will have opportunities to discuss and apply that information through small group, collaborative learning. Opportunities to engage with community will also enable students to develop practical skills in collaboration and project development.
This unit involves 150 hours of learning inclusive of a combination of face-to-face and online delivery, interactive and independent learning, and assessment tasks. This unit also includes approximately 20 hours of community engagement, which is integrated into the learning outcomes and assessment items.