Objective: To assess the position of students from the communication sciences and disorders department (CSD) regarding telepractice vs. face-to-face internship in speech and swallowing therapy for patients with movement disorders (MD).
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the students’ clinical internship, where students experience clinical work under supervision and were unable to complete the undergraduate degree. Thus, a professional telepractice program with the supervision of speech language pathologists (SLP) was developed to allow students to learn and experience clinical work in speech and swallowing therapy for MD patients.
Method: Sixty-four students (2 males), responded to an anonymous online questionnaire including 42 statements divided into 6 themes, on telepractice vs. face-to-face internship in treating speech and swallowing disturbances of MD patients. Each statement was graded 1-6, (6 = strongly agree). Sixteen students experienced only face-to-face clinical practice and 48 students experienced telepractice and face-to-face clinical practice.
Results: Students from the 3rd (53%) and 4th (42%) academic year of the CSD of Ono Academic College and graduate students (5%), mean age 29±5.82 participated in this study. The mean score for the 6 themes was compared between the students who experienced face-to-face and telepractice internship and students who experienced only face-to-face internship. The guidance by the SLP (M=4.7, SD=1.40; M=5.26,SD=1), acquiring professional skills (M = 4.55, SD = 1.34; M=5.04, SD=1.32), disadvantages of the internship (M = 4.02, SD = 1.67; M=3.82, SD=1.78), advantages of the internship (M = 4.37, SD = 1.54; M=5, SD=1.30), learning experience (M = 2.73, SD = 1.21; M=5.04, SD=1.32), Integration between simulation and clinical experience (M = 3.70, SD = 1.51; M=2.94, SD=1.75) respectively, with no significant difference.
Conclusion: Incorporating telepractice into a professional face to face internship program for students from the CSD is feasible. Further studies are needed to examine solely the contribution of telepractice internship.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Y. Manor, D. Shpunt, A. Zait, O. Abramov, D. Biteulin Maharat, A. Avraham, A. Twik-Klein, I. Feldman, T. Gurevich, H. Putter Katz. The position of students of communication sciences and disorders department at Ono Academic College regarding telepractice vs. face-to-face internship experience in speech and swallowing therapy for patients with movement disorders. [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2022; 37 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-position-of-students-of-communication-sciences-and-disorders-department-at-ono-academic-college-regarding-telepractice-vs-face-to-face-internship-experience-in-speech-and-swallowing-therapy-for-p/. Accessed June 15, 2025.« Back to 2022 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-position-of-students-of-communication-sciences-and-disorders-department-at-ono-academic-college-regarding-telepractice-vs-face-to-face-internship-experience-in-speech-and-swallowing-therapy-for-p/