Volkmer, Anna;
Alyahya, Reem SW;
Atkinson, Hannah P;
Bose, Arpita;
Britton, Hannah;
Collins, Lindsey;
Earing, Katie;
... Kindell, Jackie; + view all
(2025)
Dementia is our “biggest expanding caseload”: Core learning for student speech and language therapists.
PLoS One
, 20
(12)
, Article e0327090. 10.1371/journal.pone.0327090.
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Abstract
Dementia is a relatively recent addition to the speech and language therapist’s clinical role. Given the increase in prevalence of dementia, a review of current student speech and language therapy training on this topic is essential to ensure the profession can meet the needs of this expanding population. This study therefore aimed to understand the current support and training being provided for pre-registration student speech and language therapists on the topic of dementia across UK universities and explore the experiences and views of lecturers delivering this training. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study, employing a survey which consequently informed two focus groups. In total 18 participants from 16 universities participated in the study. Reflexive thematic analysis identified six main themes in the focus group data; 1. Dementia is a vast and therefore complex topic, 2. There are biases about dementia within and outside the profession, 3. Students bias towards dementia can be shifted through exposure, 4. Teaching could be enhanced by threading dementia through the curriculum, 5. There are several tensions in teaching on dementia: Possibilities versus clinical realities now and in the future, and 6. Dementia teaching must focus on person centeredness. The results emphasise the need for a paradigm shift in the teaching of student speech and language therapists. Underpinned by the principles of person-centered care five core components for teaching dementia student speech and language therapists were synthesized comprising 1. Challenge stereotypes around dementia, 2. Focus on speech, language and communication across dementias, 3. Teach them to build a relationship with people affected by dementia, 4. Teach goal setting for a progressive trajectory, 5. Prepare them to advocate for gold standard. Future research should work with people with dementia to further refine the core components for teaching student speech and language therapists.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Dementia is our “biggest expanding caseload”: Core learning for student speech and language therapists |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0327090 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0327090 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2025 Volkmer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Language and Cognition |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10218994 |
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