Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the required core curriculum of the top 50 graduate programs from occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), nursing, speech-language pathology (SLP), and audiology programs. The questions addressed were: Do SLP and audiology program curricula include leadership in course offerings? How do leadership offerings compare among allied healthcare graduate programs? It was hypothesized that SLP and audiology programs include fewer leadership courses when compared to other healthcare graduate programs. A quantitative analysis of the healthcare graduate program curriculum or course sequences was used. Statistically, the curricular data was analyzed via Chi-Square analysis. The researcher used a Chi-Square analysis to test for a categorical relationship between graduate programs and leadership curricula. The Chi-Square statistic was significant at p < .05. Therefore, SLP and audiology graduate programs are less likely to include leadership within the curriculum. Descriptive percentages revealed that 68% of nursing, 82% of OT, 42% of PT, 12% of audiology, and 6% of SLP graduate programs included a leadership component within the curriculum. The study concludes that SLP and audiology graduate programs have fewer leadership offerings throughout their curriculum. This finding represents a missed opportunity for leadership preparation within the curriculum. Leadership education is an important component to consider when developing competent clinical leaders. Following the findings, leadership development for SLP and audiology graduate programs is recommended.
Presenters
Cara TolanAssistant Professor, Communication Science and Disorders, Commonwealth University - Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Educational Organization and Leadership
KEYWORDS
Graduate programs, Program curriculum, Leadership, Leadership education
