Designing equitable speech-language pathology services in the Maldives to achieve Sustainable Development Goals 10 and 4

Figures & data

Figure 1. Context-specific Service Delivery Framework (CSDF) © 2022 by Zahir, M. Z., Miles, A., Hand, L., & Ward, E. C. All Rights Reserved.

Table I. Studies used to complete CSDF.

Study; framework component	Research aim	Research design	Data	Analysis
1. Current situation (Zahir, Miles, Hand, & Ward, 2021a)	A preliminary exploration of the environmental, social and economic conditions in the Maldives and how they affect equitable access to speech-language pathology services.	Parallel convergent mixed methods	40 Online documents Online surveys: 107 teachers 73 parents of children with communication disabilities	Examining and interpreting documents Deductive content analysis
2. Resources/opportunities: (Zahir, Miles, Hand, & Ward, 2021c)	To explore speech-language pathology and related resources available in the Maldives, in order to identify sustainable approaches that could yield the most out of existing resources.	Qualitative exploratory	Interviews: 6 atoll councillors (representing 30% of atoll councils) 3 NGO representatives (50% of NGOs) 3 SLPs (50% of the contacted sample)	Deductive content analysis
3. Resources/opportunities: (Zahir, Miles, Hand, & Ward, 2022)	To explore what the education sector and classrooms in the early years of schooling currently offer as support for children with communication disabilities in the Maldives, with an objective to identify opportunities to enhance this support.	Qualitative multi-method	Observations of 12 early-year classrooms (pre-school, grade 1 and 2) in 4 schools. Interviews: 1 Ministry of Education official 4 special education teachers in these schools	Communication supporting classroom (CsC) observation tool Deductive content analysis
4. Technological capacity (Zahir, Miles, Hand, & Ward, 2020)	To explore the environmental, social and economic conditions around ICT in the Maldives that could influence equitable and sustainable delivery of speech-language pathology services.	Parallel convergent mixed methods	21 online documents Online surveys: 25 island councillors 73 parents of children with communication disabilities Interview with 1 ICT government official	Examining and interpreting documents Deductive content analysis
5. Technological capacity: (Zahir, Miles, Hand, & Ward, 2021b)	To explore the environmental, social and economic conditions around ICT in remote schools of the Maldives that could influence equitable and sustainable delivery of speech-language pathology services.	Parallel convergent mixed methods	13 online documents Online surveys of 103 teachers Observation data from 4 schools Interviews: 31 teachers 4 principals of the 4 schools	Examining and interpreting documents Deductive content analysis

Figure 2. The completed CSDF for the Maldivian context.

Zahir, M.Z., Miles, A., Hand, L., & Ward, E.C. (2021a). Speech language therapy services for children in small island developing states: The situation in the Maldives. Speech, Language and Hearing, 24, 200–214. doi:10.1080/2050571X.2020.1776948

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Zahir, M.Z., Miles, A., Hand, L., & Ward, E.C. (2021c). Optimising existing speech-language therapy resources in an underserved community: A study of the Maldives. Journal of Communication Disorders, 93, 106136. doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106136

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Zahir, M.Z., Miles, A., Hand, L., & Ward, E.C. (2022). Opportunities to enhance children’s communication development at school in underserved communities. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53, 104–121. doi:10.1044/2021_LSHSS-20-00148

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Zahir, M.Z., Miles, A., Hand, L., & Ward, E.C. (2020). Sustainable delivery of speech-language therapy services in small island developing states using information and communication technology: A study of the Maldives. International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 12, 17–42. doi:10.5195/ijt.2020.6306

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Zahir, M.Z., Miles, A., Hand, L., & Ward, E.C. (2021b). Information and communication technology in schools: Its contribution to equitable speech-language therapy services in an underserved small island developing state. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 52, 644–660. doi:10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00100

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