- Title
- Struggle and failure on clinical placements in speech pathology: lived experiences
- Creator
- Davenport, Rachel Mary
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Background: A core part of any health professional course is the clinical placement component (Delany & Molloy, 2018). The majority of students complete their placements successfully, however in any given cohort there will be a small number of students whose performance during placement is considered less than satisfactory. These students are sometimes referred to as ‘struggling’ or ‘failing’ students, amongst other terms. The current literature regarding struggling or failing students in speech pathology is scant so it is necessary to look to other health professions to gain a better understanding of how students experience failure. A review of the currently available literature indicated a focus on exploring risk factors and predictors of failure for the health professional student from the perspective of the educators and universities, however there was an apparent gap in the student experience or ‘voice’. Aims: The research presented in this thesis aimed to explore and understand the lived experience of struggling student speech pathologists on clinical placement, within the wider context provided by the experiences of clinical educators (CEs) and university clinical education coordinators (CECs) when working with these students. Methods: A qualitative study using narrative inquiry methodology was used. There were two phases of the study. Phase 1 explored the retrospective recollections of experience of five struggling or failing students and 11 CEs, through semi-structured individual interviews, and eight university CECs through a focus group. Phase 2 explored the lived experiences of struggling or failing students, two CEs and one CEC through semi-structured interviews which were conducted with participants contemporaneously with the clinical placement. Results: Qualitative analysis of the participants’ narrative accounts revealed distinct themes, as well as the way participants sought to interpret their own experiences through cultural archetypal character tropes and story plotlines. The findings in the data assisted in developing an understanding of how students who struggle on clinical placements, and the CEs and CECs, made sense of and understand their experiences. The findings also highlighted that struggle and failure to reach the required level of competency may not solely relate to problems with skill development or skill execution but rather that multiple other factors contributed to the student learning experiences. Conclusion: Findings from both phases of the study revealed some of the complexity associated with struggle and failure in clinical learning and was able to identify some of the multiple interacting factors impacting learning, not least the relationship between the student and CE. These results were discussed in light of the impact on clinical workplace learning with future research directions being identified, and a variety of strategies or actions for students, CEs or universities are proposed to assist students’ workplace learning.
- Subject
- speech pathology; struggle; failure; clinical work place learning; placement; lived experience
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1417016
- Identifier
- uon:37148
- Rights
- Copyright 2020 Rachel Mary Davenport
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 280 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |