Experiences of a pediatric speech-language teletherapy practical at a South African university training site during COVID-19: an exploratory qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Students and clinical educators have had to adapt to emergency telepractice during the COVID-19 pandemic without much preparation. We sought the experiences of clinical educators and students (n = 11) regarding a pediatric teletherapy practical at a university speech-language therapy clinic in South Africa, a Global South context, via qualitative surveys and a reflective focus group. Findings highlight several challenges experienced when engaging in telepractice, including allocating clients for telepractice, preparing for telepractice sessions, managing caregiver involvement in telepractice, promoting connection with clients online, and adapting supervision style for telepractice. We discuss several implications and considerations for student teletherapy practicals going forward.

KEYWORDS:

• Clinical educators
• COVID-19
• speech-language pathology
• telepractice
• teletherapy
• students

Disclosure statement

All authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in anonymized format from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa [Grant Number: 141995].

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Watermeyer

Jennifer Watermeyer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Director of the Health Communication Research Unit (HCRU) at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She teaches undergraduate courses and supervises clinical practicals. Jennifer’s research currently focuses on finding ways of supporting students’ communication skills in online and face to face healthcare interactions.

Kelly-Ann Kater

Kelly-Ann Kater is a Clinical Tutor in the Department of Speech Pathology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She teaches undergraduate courses and supervises clinical practicals.

Gift Khumalo

Gift Khumalo is a Clinical Tutor in the Department of Speech Pathology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He teaches counseling skills and provides support to students on clinical practicals.