PP1701 - Efforts to Increase Awareness of Careers in CSD Through Local Community Outreach

Abstract:
There is a shortage of Audiologists and Speech Pathologists due to the demand of services needed¹. To draw excitement towards the profession, we created an interactive presentation designed to educate and promote awareness in high school students about careers in CSD. This poster will describe creation, modification, and dissemination to five public schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky over a two-year period.

Summary:
Rationale:
Students who major in CSD are typically introduced to it by family members, through their own communication disorders, or stumble upon it accidentally². Professionals, teachers, and graduate students have taken it upon themselves to advocate and draw excitement towards the profession. Vocational psychology as an emerging field notes that high school is a time when career aspirations start to solidify as students prepare for post-secondary education³. In addition, many high schools are starting to offer health education profession tracks for students who are interested in healthcare careers⁴. Jefferson County, which is Kentucky’s most populous county and home to the city of Louisville, has eight different magnet high schools with health profession tracks⁵. The presentation was aimed at students in healthcare elective classes at these schools because many students who pursue a career in CSD are influenced by their desire to help others⁶.

Purpose:
The purpose of this project was to create an interactive presentation for high school students in the Louisville area to increase awareness and generate excitement toward careers in Audiology and Speech Pathology.

Methods:
Schools were contacted to gauge interest and gather relevant information. The presentation was created and modified based on feedback. It was determined that it was important to talk about career options that were available but also to describe graduate school and undergraduate paths. Students were given the chance to engage with the speakers and perform otoscopy on their classmates. In year one, five presentations were given at three local high schools by one audiology graduate student. Based on feedback, the presentation was modified for year two to include speech-language pathology graduate students and more interactive components. The response from community educators was overwhelmingly positive. The foundation is now in place to conduct future qualitative and quantitative studies to evaluate this kind of community outreach.

Results &

Conclusions:
It can be a daunting task to determine the most effective way to draw young people to careers in CSD. Students currently in graduate school programs, who are not too far removed from high school themselves, seem to be an effective, grassroots way to encourage others toward these careers. More research is needed to determine the best way to measure the long-term effectiveness of such programs.

Innovation:
This is the first education program that has been launched at the University of Louisville that encompasses the field of Audiology and Speech Pathology and its education track. The university is located in a diverse urban setting, and this presentation exposes people from varied backgrounds to careers in CSD in hopes of increasing diversity within this field.