Awareness of audiology and speech-language pathology services among healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Healthcare professionals are required to work effectively together to deliver the best healthcare services. Without awareness of other healthcare professionals’ roles and responsibilities, interprofessional practice (IPP) cannot be optimally achieved.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate healthcare professionals’ awareness of audiology and speech-language pathology (SLP) services in Saudi Arabia.

Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study consisted of two parts. The content of a 20-item paper questionnaire was firstly validated. The full-scale study addressed the aim through distributing questionnaire items among potential participants. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were used.

Results: A total of 403 participants completed the questionnaires for the main study. Most of the participants were Saudi citizens (84.1%), aged 18 years – 40 years (84.8%) years, and lived in Riyadh region (76.2%). Allied health professionals (40.2%), physicians (22.6%), nursing (15.4%) and dentistry (11.2%) were the main group of participants working mainly at governmental hospitals (69.2%). Of the total participants, 92.6% and 95.3% reported being fully aware of the services provided by audiologists and SLPs, respectively. No statistically significant association between the specialty of participants and their familiarity with the scope of practice for SLPs and audiologists was determined.

Conclusion: Our study examined healthcare professionals’ awareness of audiology and SLP services and revealed a high level of awareness.

Contribution: The existed level of awareness is expected to facilitate IPP and enhance the quality of care. Still, awareness campaigns about audiology and SLP services are needed to address the existing lack of knowledge among some healthcare professionals.