Stakeholder perspectives following implementation of Vietnam’s first speech-language pathology degrees : Recommendations for future curriculum development

Purpose
To investigate perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in development and delivery of Vietnam’s first speech-language pathology degrees and derive recommendations for future degrees in Vietnam and other Majority World countries.

Methods
An exploratory-descriptive qualitative research design using focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews in the preferred language (English or Vietnamese) was used, with 70 participants from five stakeholder groups: project managers, students, academic educators, placement supervisors and interpreters. Transcriptions were analysed using thematic network analysis.

Results
Analysis identified five organising themes: (1) People enjoyed working with/learning from others; (2) Benefits from/to stakeholders; (3) The pandemic impacted program delivery and learning; (4) Practical challenges; (5) Preparation with flexibility required for success and sustainability. From the five organising themes, one synthesising global theme was developed, conveying that satisfying international collaborations require preparation, support, high quality interpreting, and management of challenges.

Conclusions
Recommendations highlight the need for preparation, collaboration, support to manage challenges, flexibility, recognition for placement supervisors and high-quality interpreting. The recommendations are of relevance to other organisations engaged in development of professional degrees in Majority World countries. Future research would benefit from a critical investigation of the diverse perspectives of stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of international curricula.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Many Majority World countries are seeking to develop university degrees to build a workforce of speech-language pathologists to provide services to people with communication and swallowing disabilities

• Collaborative relationships, flexibility, and delineation of roles and commitments are vital to partnership success

• Conceptualisation of rehabilitation services in cross-cultural contexts must privilege the knowledge, experiences and preferences of local partners

• Local capacity building will support training programs and rehabilitation services that are sustainable and culturally relevant.

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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