Kelly Williamson, Janet Preis, Ed.D., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologists' Knowledge, Training, and Experiences in Trauma-Informed Care
Given the established importance across professions to understand trauma and implement
Trauma Informed Care (TIC), and the subsequent lack of information specific to communication
sciences and disorders (CSD), this study intends to investigate the knowledge, training,
and experience of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) certified and
clinical fellow (CF) speech-language pathologists as it relates to TIC. The following
exploratory research questions will be posed:
1. Do speech-language pathologists currently in practice have knowledge of trauma
and TIC?
2. What training and/or education have speech-language pathologists currently in practice
received specific to trauma and TIC?
3. What is the experience of working with clients with trauma for speech-language
pathologists currently in practice?
4. Is there a relationship between employment settings and/or populations and the
knowledge and training related to trauma and TIC for speech-language pathologists
currently in practice?
The inclusion criteria to participate in this study will be practicing SLPs in the
United States either holding a current Certificate of Clinical Competence in the field
of speech-language pathology (CCC-SLP) or are in the process of completing their clinical
fellowship year. Fulfillment of inclusion criteria will be determined by self-reported
information provided by respondents during survey completion. The criteria for this
study will allow respondents’ knowledge and experience with trauma and TIC to be potentially
generalized to the larger population of SLPs currently in practice. This research
study will utilize a cross-sectional survey design where data are collected at one
point in time from a sample selected to represent a larger population (Orlikoff, et
al., 2015). This cross-sectional design will allow researchers to investigate SLPs’
knowledge, training, and experiences with trauma and TIC at a specific point in time,
while also looking at the many characteristics of the survey participants (i.e., SLPs),
such as demographics, years in practice, populations served, and the settings in which
they work. The study employs mixed methods, using both quantitative and qualitative
approaches, obtaining information from a pool of respondents by asking closed and
open-ended survey questions. Descriptive statistics will include percentile and standard
deviation for (a) demographic information, (b) knowledge, training, and influence
of TIC, and
(c) clinical work with trauma (current or past clients). Inferential statistics will
be conducted by using a Pearson’s chi-square test of association to examine the relationship
between the categorical variables of employment setting, to the ratings of knowledge
and training. Qualitative data obtained from the open-ended responses regarding recommendations
for SLP training and support will be analyzed and interpreted using conventional content
analysis, sorting responses into general themes.