Teaching End-of-Life Care in Speech-Language Pathology: A Tutorial

Abstract

Speech-language pathologists often lack preparation for working with patients near the end of life (EoL). Few academic training programs offer dedicated or sufficient content in the area of end-of-life care (EoLC). Furthermore, traditional knowledge-focused outcomes are not the most effective pedagogical strategy in teaching EoL and palliative care to students. Instead, a focus on self-awareness and personal beliefs in relation to death and dying have been shown to have a positive effect on attitudes toward EoLC. The purposes of this paper are three-fold: First, to explore what is known about the teaching and training of EoL in the discipline of speech-language pathology; second, to explore successful pedagogical strategies being used to teach this content; and third, to provide evidence-based suggestions for the inclusion of this content into speech-language pathology curriculum.