School of Communication Science and Disorders (SCSD) faculty, Dr. Carla Wood and Dr. Mollie Romano, and doctoral student Victor Lugo partnered with their colleagues, Yulia Strekalova and Wayne McCormack from the University of Florida, to publish their research with the Journal of Speech Language Hearing Research (JSLHR). Their publication, entitled, “State of the Practice of Team Science in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology,” focuses on the pros and cons of team science and researchers’ experience within the field.
“State of the Practice of Team Science in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology,” reports engagement in collaborative research (team science) and perceptions of related knowledge and skills of 220 doctoral students, faculty, and research scientists in speech-language pathology and audiology. Additionally, the paper reports on research scientists’ perceptions of readiness, benefits, and challenges to team science. The paper highlights numerous advantages of cross-disciplinary collaborations including diverse perspectives, collective expertise, innovative ideas, and higher research quality and productivity. The project was designed to inform personnel preparation and workforce development efforts and to further vet underlying barriers to executing team science.
Speech-language pathologists and audiologists are expected to collaborate on interprofessional teams and encouraged to make these connections within their graduate programs. This team found there was a lack of research surrounding CSD researchers practicing team science within their field. To tackle this, Lugo shared, “we developed a survey to solicit information about team science-related experiences, including perceptions of readiness, benefits, and challenges to team science, and distributed the survey to 180 CSD programs in the U.S. In the end, 220 doctoral students, faculty, and research scientists took the survey and provided us with some great information.” They found that a low percentage of respondents had received training in team science, with female researchers reporting significantly less psychological safety than their male counterparts.
The findings within “State of the Practice of Team Science in Speech Language Pathology and Audiology” encourage changes to ensure a balanced power structure in reference to gender and diversity in academic spaces. This calls for more training and research for professionals in Communication Science and Disorders. To further this research, Victor Lugo had the opportunity to share at the 12th Annual International Science of Team Science (INSciTS) Conference, citing, “it was a great learning experience to present on the international stage and share the results of a project I truly believe in. I hope to continue this research by exploring Team Science in educational research”.
To learn more about this paper and the team, click here.