Parental and Health Professionals’ Awareness of Speech Therapy for Effective Intervention among Children with Communication Disorders in Selected Hospitals, Mwanza, Tanzania

Abstract

This study sought to assess parental and health professionals‟ awareness of speech and language therapy for effective intervention of children with communication disorders in three selected hospitals in Mwanza City, Tanzania. The objectives of the study were: determine level of awareness among parents and health professionals concerning available speech-language therapy services for effective intervention for children with communication disorders; to examine parental and health professionals‟ views on referral and information related to speech-language therapy for effective intervention for children with communication disorders, to establish parental and health professionals „roles in speech and language development for effective intervention for children with communication disorders and to investigate parental and health professional influence on awareness creation about speech-language therapy for effective intervention for children with communication disorders. The research was guided by Normalization Process Theory. The study employed descriptive survey design with both qualitative and quantitative methods. The target population included parents of children with communication disorders and health professionals who attend to children with communication disorders specifically, those with hearing loss, cleft palate/lip, Down syndrome and autism. The study used sample size of 100 respondents in which 85 were parents and 15 health professionals. The study employed purposive sampling in selecting respondents who were parents and health professionals. Validity was ensured through professional reviews, while reliability test was performed using Cronbach‟s Alpha to establish internal consistency of the items in the questionnaires. Test-retest method was used to measure reliability in the piloting institution. Data was collected by using questionnaires for the parents, interviews for the health professionals and document analysis of records of parents of children with communication disorders. Qualitative data from interview and document analysis was analyzed thematically and quantitative data from questionnaires was analyzed using descriptive statistics in form of frequency, percentage, tables and graphs with the aid of SPSS computer program. The study found that majority of the parents and health professionals have limited awareness on availability of speech and language therapy services. Many parents and health professionals reported that there is low level of information and referral systems related to speech-language therapy. The study also found that many parents have limited awareness of their roles in speech and language development, while some health professionals try to help the children but not effectively. The findings indicated that there were low level of awareness and limited roles of parents and health professionals on speech therapy services in the selected hospitals. The study recommended that there was a great need to raise awareness of speech and language therapy to the parents and health professionals for effective intervention for children with communication disorder.