TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 on professional practices of audiologists and speech-language pathologists in India
T2 - A knowledge, attitude and practices survey
AU - Gunjawate, Dhanshree R.
AU - Ravi, Rohit
AU - Yerraguntla, Krishna
AU - Rajashekhar, Bellur
AU - Verma, Ashwani
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 INDIACLEN. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread throughout the world and become a global pandemic. This has hampered and led to drastic changes in the functioning of healthcare services, forcing the professionals to adapt and work efficiently. The present study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the professional practices of audiologists and speech-language pathologists in India using a cross-sectional knowledge, attitude and practices survey. Material and methods: The study was conducted in two phases; phase one involved development and validation of the questionnaire, while phase II involved data collection. A cross-sectional self-reported internet-based study using convenience sampling was carried out. Results: Two hundred and eleven audiologists and speech-language pathologists responded to the survey. Overall, the professionals exhibited good knowledge levels regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there were differences in their attitudes towards service delivery in the midst of the pandemic. Further, poor practices towards infection control measures especially in terms of hand washing was noted. Conclusion: The findings of the present study are useful in highlighting the need to create better awareness among these professionals about appropriate and standard infection control measures. There is a need to have in place standard operating protocols for hand wash and infection control as well as inclusion in curriculum.
AB - Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread throughout the world and become a global pandemic. This has hampered and led to drastic changes in the functioning of healthcare services, forcing the professionals to adapt and work efficiently. The present study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the professional practices of audiologists and speech-language pathologists in India using a cross-sectional knowledge, attitude and practices survey. Material and methods: The study was conducted in two phases; phase one involved development and validation of the questionnaire, while phase II involved data collection. A cross-sectional self-reported internet-based study using convenience sampling was carried out. Results: Two hundred and eleven audiologists and speech-language pathologists responded to the survey. Overall, the professionals exhibited good knowledge levels regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. However, there were differences in their attitudes towards service delivery in the midst of the pandemic. Further, poor practices towards infection control measures especially in terms of hand washing was noted. Conclusion: The findings of the present study are useful in highlighting the need to create better awareness among these professionals about appropriate and standard infection control measures. There is a need to have in place standard operating protocols for hand wash and infection control as well as inclusion in curriculum.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cegh.2020.07.009
DO - 10.1016/j.cegh.2020.07.009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089357955
SN - 2213-3984
VL - 9
SP - 110
EP - 115
JO - Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health
JF - Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health
ER -
