Human anatomy: speech-language pathology students' preferences and perspectives

Abstract

Teaching practices at the university and the curricular component of Human Anatomy, in recent decades, have shared a significant process of change. The research aims to describe the profile and teaching preferences of Speech Therapy students enrolled in the Functional Neuroanatomy curricular component, offered at the Health Sciences Center of the Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil. The study was observational and cross-sectional in nature with serial collection in the same population. Data collection took place between July 2014 and April 2018. Most of the 53 respondents were female, aged between 18 and 28 years, mean age of 20.4±2.2 years. In the students' opinion, learning anatomy disciplines involved a lot of effort (65.4%) and the majority (71.7%) consider the cadaver necessary in the study of anatomy, but would not donate their body for teaching or research. Students use the main personal protective equipment, lab coat, mask and gloves, but many complaints of headache, nasal irritation and tearing were observed. Thus, making a local diagnosis and identifying preferences, demands and difficulties is essential for decision-making and planning of institutional and teaching actions that can qualify the teaching-learning process, which will imply the qualification of the future professional practice of these students.