A Survey of Head and Neck Cancer Curriculum in United States Speech Language Pathology Masters Programs

Abstract

We surveyed speech language pathology (SLP) programs for head and neck cancer (HNC) training. Program directors of 242 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association accredited masters programs for SLP were contacted regarding curricular HNC material. Directors (n = 120) responded online: six included a required course in HNC, and all but two programs with no required HNC course included HNC topics in other required courses. Thirty-two programs were affiliated with a medical center and/or a teaching hospital. Programs that offered either a required course in HNC or elective courses on HNC were more likely to be affiliated with a medical center and/or a teaching hospital than programs that did not offer a required course in HNC (P = 0.043) or elective courses on HNC (P = 0.007), respectively. Few programs offer a required HNC course but most programs integrate HNC content into the required coursework. Potential strategies to incorporate HNC exposure into formal SLP programs are identified.