‘We are in this together’ voices of speech-language pathologists working in South African healthcare contexts during level 4 and level 5 lockdown of COVID-19

South African Journal of Communication Disorders

 
 
Field Value
 
Title ‘We are in this together’ voices of speech-language pathologists working in South African healthcare contexts during level 4 and level 5 lockdown of COVID-19
 
Creator Adams, Skye N. Seedat, Jaishika Coutts, Kim Kater, Kelly-Ann
 
Subject Speech Language Pathology COVID-19; Coronavirus disease; healthcare workers; service delivery; South Africa; speech-language pathologist.
Description Background: SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has had a significant impact on every South African but more specifically healthcare professionals, including speech-language pathologists (SLPs). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa implemented a nationwide lockdown as confirmed cases continued to rise. Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on SLPs has a three-fold purpose: to re-evaluate service provision, service delivery platforms and to identify the need for support to SLPs during a time of crisis. It is also crucial in guiding how policies and interventions need to be modified.Objectives: The study aimed to better understand how the workspace of SLPs in hospitals was impacted by COVID-19, how they experienced this process and the implications for them as healthcare professionals in both the private and public sector throughout South Africa.Methodology: An exploratory cross-sectional study design was used to meet the aims of the study. Thirty-nine SLPs from different provinces in South Africa, working in government and private hospitals during COVID-19, responded to the online survey. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis.Results: SLPs’ roles, responsibilities and service delivery were impacted by COVID-19. It was necessary for typical outpatient therapy services to be modified; there were changes to the role of the SLP in the hospital and inpatient services were curtailed.Conclusion: This study provides insightful information to SLPs employed in hospitals to know that they are experiencing similar challenges. It also confirms the resilience of healthcare professionals, including SLPs, when faced with novel and unprecedented situations.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor SA is supported by Consortium for Advanced Training in Africa (CARTA) who is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Grant No: B 8606.R02) Sida (Grant No: 54100029) the DELTAS Africa Initiative (Grant No: 107768/Z/15/Z)
Date 2021-02-18
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajcd.v68i1.792
 
Source South African Journal of Communication Disorders; Vol 68, No 1 (2021); 12 pages 2225-4765 0379-8046
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/792/1439 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/792/1438 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/792/1440 https://sajcd.org.za/index.php/sajcd/article/view/792/1437
 
Coverage — — Speech Language Therapists; Female; 18-59
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Skye N. Adams, Jaishika Seedat, Kim Coutts, Kelly-Ann Kater https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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