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PURPOSE: Current speech-language pathology (SLP) services in Cambodia are limited in scope, service accessibility and integration into government systems. However, momentum is growing to develop an internationally recognised profession. This paper examines the depth and breadth of SLP support available to people with communication and/or swallowing difficulties in relation the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). METHOD AND RESULT: Qualitative interview data collected from service facilities (n = 13) and speech therapy practitioners (n = 27) were mapped and analysed for accessibility and scope of SLP services. Data revealed a workforce density of 0.16:100 000. Disparity in service accessibility was identified between provincial and urban locations, adult and paediatric populations and range of practice areas. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate the importance of partnerships (SDG 17) among government departments, non-government organisations and private sector entities to establish a sustainable and culturally responsive SLP profession in Cambodia. Although there is no Cambodian university training program, there is a growing momentum and local commitment to establishing a workforce to support Cambodians with communication and/or swallowing difficulties. This commentary paper focuses on good health and well-being (SDG 3), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and also addresses no poverty (SDG 1), quality education (SDG 4) and partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

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Purpose: A lack of diversity in the speech-language pathology profession is widely recognised internationally. The role of speech-language pathology education in reproduction of this homogeneity and as a barrier to diversification is little understood. The potential of blended online education to increase access to education and diversify the speech-language pathology profession is yet to be explored. The purpose of the study was to investigate the profile of students engaging in the first blended online speech-language pathology course in Australia, including motivations for studying, experiences of studying via a blended online mode, and intentions for future practice.Method: Data were collected from 44 students in the first Australian blended online Master of Speech Pathology via an online survey. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in SPSS and a content analysis of the qualitative data was conducted using NVivo.Result: With over 92% of participants choosing the course because it was offered online, flexible blended online study provided opportunity for those who would not have otherwise accessed speech-language pathology education, including rural students and those balancing work and home commitments. Participants found face to face elements of the course essential to their learning, but also the most challenging to manage and to fit around other commitments. Participants' ideal work scenarios revealed that 82.9% wished to practice within 50kms of their current location, indicating that provision of tertiary education to people in rural areas is contributing to establishing and retaining a rurally focussed speech-language pathology workforce.Conclusion: Blended online study provides an opportunity to diversify the speech-language profession by providing access to students such as rural students and those balancing work and home commitments with tertiary education. By reducing barriers to studying speech-language pathology, flexible learning is helping address issues of access and equity in service delivery across Australia.

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Purpose Variation within languages, including dialects, takes on an indexical function, marking belonging and connection. Meanwhile, attitudes toward these speech varieties become marked by linguistic bias. Within the speech-language pathology profession, research evidence, assessment tools, and intervention programs have largely been designed for and by the White, English-speaking middle class. As such, linguistic bias with a preference for standardized dialects is prevalent in the training and practice of the speech-language pathology profession, resulting in discriminatory and racialized practices. Method To investigate the influence of linguistic bias upon speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') clinical decision making, data were collected from 129 Australian SLPs via an online survey. Inferential statistics were used to investigate the relationship between clinical decision making and SLPs' attitudes toward nonstandard dialects as well as personal and professional factors. A content analysis of extended responses was conducted to identify themes in clinical decision making. Results SLPs with more years of experience and those who had received professional development were significantly more likely to seek out more information before making a diagnosis, while those with more negative attitudes toward linguistic diversity were significantly more likely to identify a disorder than a difference. SLPs provided a range of justifications for their clinical decision making, but few acknowledged the influence of their own attitudes and bias upon their decision making. Conclusions SLPs' linguistic bias towards speakers of nonstandard dialects has the potential to impact upon their clinical judgment of difference versus disorder and lead to inequality of service provision for speakers who do not express themselves in standardized forms. Before the profession can truly move toward an antiracist approach of equitable service provision for all, SLPs must engage in critical self-reflection to disrupt the adherence of the speech-language pathology profession to standardized "White" norms of communication.

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Dialectal variations are present in all languages, originating from cultural, geographic and socioeconomic diversity. This study investigates speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) linguistic bias towards non-standard language forms and dialects, and factors that may impact on these attitudes. Language attitude studies reveal that negative attitudes towards variation can lead to bias against speakers of non-standard dialects. If SLPs hold linguistic bias towards speakers of non-standard dialects, this has the potential to impact upon their clinical judgement of difference vs. disorder and lead to inequality of service provision. A total of 129 Australian SLPs completed an online survey, which involved ranking 28 attitudinal statements regarding language variation on a 5-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The survey data were analysed using a factor analysis in SPSS to identify latent factors that identified attitudes towards non-standard dialects followed by inferential analyses to investigate how attitudes were related to the demographic data of participants. Results identified five key factors from the survey, these were (1) Use of non-standard English, (2) Language impurity, (3) Diversity in form, (4) Social acceptability, and (5) Prescriptive language rules. SLPs held generally positive attitudes towards the use of non-standard forms and the socially determined acceptability of language. SLPs were more neutral in their attitudes towards diversity in form and the need for prescriptive rules and generally held negative views towards language purity (e.g., the use of "youse" as a plural form of you). A significantly positive association was found between professional development (PD) on cultural and linguistic diversity and positive attitudes towards Factors 1 and 3. Years of practice were significantly related to Factor 2, with less experienced SLPs holding more negative views relating to language purity. While many SLPs identify the value of language variation and its reflection of a person's cultural and linguistic diversity, negative attitudes towards non-standard forms and variation in school and occupational settings have the potential to negatively impact differential diagnosis, goal setting and the delivery of culturally responsive speech-language pathology services to speakers of non-standard dialects.

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Background: With growing populations of young people, low and middle-income countries have renewed focus on reaching both unmarried and married youth with family planning (FP) services. Young people themselves bring an important perspective to guide future programmatic directions. Methods: In October 2018, 207 youth leaders in FP from around the world completed an online survey prior to their participation at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP). These youth leaders provided their perspectives on the most important influencers for youth FP use, how easy or hard it is for youth to obtain FP, preferred sources of FP methods for youth, and perceptions of commonly used terms in FP programming. We examined differences in perceptions of unmarried and married youth's access to and use of FP using bivariate analyses. Results: Respondents reported that peers/friends were the most important influencer on use of FP among unmarried youth (80.2%), while spouse/partner was the most important for married youth (80.4%). Oral contraceptive pills, injectable contraception, and contraceptive implants were perceived as significantly harder for unmarried youth to access. Privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity were all important factors for the locations to access FP for unmarried youth, while married youth were more influenced by cost. None of the commonly used terms for FP were perceived positively by a majority of respondents, with the exception of 'birth spacing' by African respondents (51.0%). Conclusions: These findings indicate that the preferences and needs of unmarried youth are different than married youth, but that all young people face barriers accessing FP. Unmarried youth seeking family planning are more influenced by peers and friends and continue to face difficulty accessing methods compared to married youth. These findings indicate the importance of including youth perspectives in development of youth-focused family planning programs.

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The landscape of tertiary education is changing. Developments in information and communications technology have created new ways of engaging with subject material and supporting students on their learning journeys. Therefore, it is timely to reconsider and re-imagine the education of speech-language pathology (SLP) students within this new learning space. In this paper, we outline the design of a new Master of Speech Pathology course being offered by distance education at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia. We discuss the catalyst for the course and the commitments of the SLP team at CSU, then describe the curriculum design process, focusing on the pedagogical approach and the learning and teaching strategies utilised in the course delivery. We explain how the learning and teaching strategies have been selected to support students' online learning experience and enable greater interaction between students and the subject material, with students and subject experts, and among student groups. Finally, we highlight some of the challenges in designing and delivering a distance education SLP program and identify future directions for educating students in an online world.

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