Determining global citizenship capabilities for speech-language pathologists and other health professionals: a study protocol

ABSTRACT

Background: Global citizenship (GC) capabilities are increasingly recognised as important aspects of professional competence for health professionals. Defining GC capabilities however, is a complex process, as is assessing such capabilities and determining whether intercultural overseas learning experiences enhance GC capabilities.

Aim: This paper presents a planned protocol for exploratory research aimed to investigate GC capabilities and overseas mobility experiences.

Method: This protocol presents an empirical four phase mixed method study, involving: (i) a scoping review of the literature relating to global citizenship and a working GC definition, (ii) a pre-mobility participant experience survey administered to tertiary students prior to an overseas mobility programme, (iii) a post-mobility participant experience survey, and finally (iv) the conduct of post-mobility focus groups after students have completed an overseas work-integrated learning experience.

Results/Conclusion: It is intended that the quantitative and qualitative results and analysis from each phase of the study will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the development and measurement of GC capabilities for Speech-Language Pathologists and potentially for other health professionals.

KEYWORDS:

• Global citizenship
• global health
• global awareness
• global responsibility
• work-integrated learning

Acknowledgements

A version of this paper was presented at the ‘Next Generation, Higher Education: Challenges, Changes and Opportunities’ conference of the Higher Education and Research Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) in Auckland, New Zealand 2–5 July 2019. Appreciation is expressed to the University of Canberra, Australia for supporting the principal author and to the Palliative Care Unit, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, for helping to prepare this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 When it comes to income, the World Bank divides the world’s economies into four income groups (i) high income, (ii) upper-middle income, (iii) lower-middle income and (iv) low income, based on factors such as, lending eligibility, economic fragility and average level of income (World Bank, 2018).