Speech-language pathologists' perceptions of the importance, difficulty, and frequency of their duties and tasks

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify speech-language pathologists (SLP) perceptions of the importance, difficulty, and frequency of the duties and tasks they perform in their work. Methods: We surveyed more than 6,000 registered SLPs from the Korean Association of Speech-Language Pathologists; questionnaires were completed by 628 SLPs. Data was collected using online questionnaires about 5 duties, 17 tasks, and 57 task elements that might be part of an SLP's job. Each duty, task and task element was analyzed for importance, difficulty, and frequency (range: 1-5). Results: First, 'therapy' was recognized as the most important and most frequent duty; 'research/development' was recognized as the most difficult duty. Second, results of correlation analysis suggested that the importance and frequency of a job have a positive correlation, while the difficulty and other perceptions of a job have a negative correlation. Third, the difference in some perceptions of a job varied depending on the class of the SLP's certificate and employment category. Fourth, results of the survey showed that seven tasks ('supervision of therapy practice', 'development of programs', etc.) were unique to first class SLPs. Conclusion: These findings show patterns in Korean SLPs perceptions of their work. The results of this study can be used as preliminary data for future studies on SLPs perceptions of various employment categories. © 2015 Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.