A Preliminary Survey Report on Awareness of Communication Disorders among Nursing Trainees and Primary School Teachers

Abstract

Background: As the old adage goes “Prevention is better than cure”, one of the primary objectives of rehabilitation would be the prevention and early identification of communication disorders. Over the years, various specialists in the field of communication disorders have attempted to promote awareness to various professionals regarding the importance of prevention and early detection of communication disorders. The present study aimed to quantify and compare the awareness level about communication disorders among the medical versus the nonmedical professional, i.e. nursing trainees versus teachers. Method: A total of 200 participants, comprising of 100 nursing trainees and 100 primary school teachers were considered for the study. The participants were given a questionnaire comprising of 19 questions categorized in five sections on various communication disorders. The nursing trainees were recruited as volunteers and were selected randomly from 5 purposively selected private hospitals in Selangor state, Malaysia. The primary school teachers were also recruited as volunteers and were selected randomly from 10 purposively selected public and private schools in Selangor. Results: Results of the study revealed that the nursing trainees and primary school teachers are better aware of most of the communication disorders (14 out of 19 questions).