- Title
- Internet images of the speech pathology profession
- Creator
- Byrne, Nicole
- Relation
- Australian Health Review Vol. 42, Issue 4, p. 420-428
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AH17033
- Publisher
- CSIRO
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Objective: The Internet provides the general public with information about speech pathology services, including client groups and service delivery models, as well as the professionals providing the services. Although this information assists the general public and other professionals to both access and understand speech pathology services, it also potentially provides information about speech pathology as a prospective career, including the types of people who are speech pathologists (i.e. demographics). The aim of the present study was to collect baseline data on how the speech pathology profession was presented via images on the Internet. Methods: A pilot prospective observational study using content analysis methodology was conducted to analyse publicly available Internet images related to the speech pathology profession. The terms 'Speech Pathology' and 'speech pathologist' to represent both the profession and the professional were used, resulting in the identification of 200 images. These images were considered across a range of areas, including who was in the image (e.g. professional, client, significant other), the technology used and the types of intervention. Results: The majority of images showed both a client and a professional (i.e. speech pathologist). While the professional was predominantly presented as female, the gender of the client was more evenly distributed. The clients were more likely to be preschool or school aged, however male speech pathologists were presented as providing therapy to selected age groups (i.e. school aged and younger adults). Images were predominantly of individual therapy and the few group images that were presented were all paediatric. Conclusion: Current images of speech pathology continue to portray narrow professional demographics and client groups (e.g. paediatrics). Promoting images of wider scope to fully represent the depth and breadth of speech pathology professional practice may assist in attracting a more diverse group of people into the profession in the future.
- Subject
- allied health; career choice; content analysis; workforce
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1410227
- Identifier
- uon:36143
- Identifier
- ISSN:0156-5788
- Language
- eng
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