Student perspective on public health training in speech-language-hearing undergraduate programs at public universities in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Purpose: to analyze the students’ understanding of public health training in the speech-language-hearing programs at public universities in Northeastern Brazil. Methods: a qualitative, multiple-case study that interviewed key informing students of seven universities in the Northeast to collect data. The analysis was based on the theme content analysis technique, having as theoretical reference the conception of curricula. Results: three categories emerged from the analysis: public health training experiences, influence of the experiences at the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS) on the speech-language-hearing therapist’s training, and potentials and limitations in public health training. Conclusion: the public university students of Northeastern Brazil perceive public health training as a means to prepare them for their future inclusion and professional practice at SUS.

Public health training in public institutions’ speech-language-hearing programs in Northeastern Brazil: a curricular framework study

“…This information calls attention to the fact that most of the SLH therapists' training ー about 80%, in the best perspective ー is still strongly based on SLH specialties focused on clinical/ individual practices. Such a reality is recurrent (4,10) in health programs overall, which (over)emphasize biomedical courses to the detriment of content related and committed to social and human training. This can be seen as a consequence of the capitalist ideology strengthened by the propagation of neoliberalism in Brazil (11) .…”

“…These factors can be considered limitations to significant experiences in the process of training SLH students (8,9) . The strong presence of a biomedical bias in health professional training -particularly SLH therapists in this case -embodies the alienating process of technification and overspecialization on which higher education is traditionally based (8)(9)(10) .…”

“…Advancements have been made in required courses, as supposedly experienced thanks to the SLH curriculum reformulations analyzed in this study. However, students still have difficulties relating public health concepts to their practices, with a fragile integration between teaching, service, and the community -which is essential to significant learning (9) .…”

“…Moreover, the existing gaps in SLH therapists' initial training have also been pointed out among the factors that contribute to their little participation in primary healthcare and public policies (4) . Since the first days of this profession in Brazil, SLH therapists were accustomed to individual and private clinical practice, based on traditional training with an assistance mindset (5)(6)(7) .…”

“…The scientific production on the topic has increased over the last few years. More recent studies were mainly based on the perception and experiences of undergraduate SLH students (8,9) and professors (4,10) , with important contributions in the area, as they consider the opinion of subjects directly involved in and coauthors of the training process.…”