A half-day education program for healthcare students on communication support for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) requires on-going support but few studies describing AAC training for healthcare professionals were found. Method We developed a short-term education program on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis communication support for undergraduate students in multiple healthcare disciplines. The program comprised lectures plus practice of three AAC methods. Participants were 58 students from four courses at four Japanese universities who completed the program twice, at 6-month intervals. Effects of the program on ‘Beginners’ (taking the program for the first time) and ‘Experienced’ (repeating the course 6 months later) were evaluated using pre-test/post-test scores, number of letters transmitted in 5 min, subjective burden indicated on visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after each AAC trial, and free-text comments. Results An increase in scores was shown from the first to the second pre-test. Number of letters generated in 5 min was higher for the Experienced group than for Beginners with the exception of one AAC device. VAS change rate for the Kuchimoji method was lower in the Experienced group than for Beginners. Text-mining of participants’ comments showed lower eyestrain reported in the Experienced group. Conclusions This study suggests that participants’ knowledge of AAC for communication support of people with ALS was retained 6 months after completing the short training program, and hands-on AAC experience helped them develop their skills and reduce the perceived subjective burden.