Exploring the impact of a ‘Clients-as-Tutors Program on speech-language pathology students’ and graduates understanding of client-centred practice

Purpose
This study explored the impact of an Australian regional university’s Clients-as-Tutors Program (CTP) on speech-language pathology students’ perception and understanding of client-centred practice.

Method
Two focus group interviews comprising three final-year students and four newly graduated speech-language pathologists who had completed the CTP. An inductive thematic analysis was undertaken to identify salient themes.

Result
Three themes were identified: (a) learning from theory, (b) learning from others, and (c) learning from yourself. These themes represented all participants’ experiences in the CTP, yet there were unique, individual journeys that each participant experienced.

Conclusion
Findings from this study have the capacity to affect change in how client-centred practice is taught at universities across speech-language pathology and other health courses, to disrupt the traditional power structure between client and clinician, and to provide an evidence base for the role of experiential learning in this area.