Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS): Modification & development of protocol for administration in Urdu.

Objective: To conduct pretesting of Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS) for scale modification and development of protocol for administration on children. Methods: This exploratory research was conducted from December 2021 to June 2022 in Lahore, Pakistan. Objective was achieved by pretesting in three steps including literature review, expert review and pilot testing on infants, toddlers and children aged 0-6 years utilizing purposive sampling technique. For expert review five experts' speech language pathologists with minimum five years of experience and for pilot study 48 normal developing children age range birth to six years were recruited. The analysis was done using content validity ratio, content validity index and Cronbach alpha. Protocol for administration of test items and stimulus with minimum three correct responses among four children's responses were finalized. Results: Of the 59 items, 57 with CVR = 0.99 were retained. Item number 3 (age 6-11 months) and item 5 (age 3.6-3.11 years) were eliminated as CVR was <0.99. CVI was one for retained items indicating acceptable validity. Cronbach's alpha was 0.95 indicating high level of internal consistency for the scale. Task groups of protocol of administration directions included: Selection of scale items, testing environment, seating arrangements, rapport building and involving the caregiver, handling the scale material and scoring the task responses. Conclusion: The modified 57 items has high validity and internal consistency with suitable protocol of administration. It is linguistically appropriate for the application on larger scale with children of different cultural backgrounds in Pakistan.

A Cross-Sectional Study on Attitude and Barriers to Interprofessional Collaboration in Hospitals Among Health Care Professionals.

The need for an effective health personnel team is important due to the increasing complexity of patient care and increasing co-morbidities. Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) among healthcare professionals offers appropriate collaborative management for humans. This study aimed to assess the attitude and barriers to IPC in hospitals among healthcare professionals in Lahore, Pakistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenience sampling technique. Healthcare professionals (speech-language pathologists, audiologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, ENT specialists, pediatricians, dentists, and nursing staff) working at Children Hospital, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Pakistan Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (PSRD), Lahore, Pakistan were included. The paper and online survey questionnaire composed in the google form and attitudes toward healthcare teams scale (ATHCT) and barriers scale toward interprofessional collaboration were used. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyze the survey data through frequency analyses and percentage distributions. Most of the respondents (response rate = 88.1%) had positive attitudes toward IPC and strongly agreed on 9 positive statements in ATHCT. Statistically, Major barriers were role and leadership ambiguity 68.6%, different goals of individual team members 68.1%, and 53.3% strongly agreed on the difference in levels of authority, power, expertise, and income. Although healthcare professionals have an optimistic attitude toward IPC, several healthcare professionals come across challenges during the practice of IPC. To overcome the analyzed barriers, the higher healthcare authorities must encourage interprofessional collaborative strategies and models.

Speech language pathologists' self-report on counselling.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of understanding among speech language pathologists regarding counselling. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted online from July 2020 to January 2021, and comprised speech language pathologists of either gender working in public or private institutions or clinics of Punjab, Sindh and KPK. Data was collected using the Self-report on counselling and interpersonal communication skills' questionnaire. The collected data was analysed using SPSS 22. RESULTS: Of the 190 subjects, 176(92.6%) were females and 14(7.4%) were males. Majority 173(91.1%) were aged 25-35 years, and 173(91.1%) belonged to the Punjab province. Majority 175(92%) of the respondents reported satisfaction about their own counselling skills, while 168(88.4%) also expressed the need for inclusion of more courses and training to develop counselling and interpersonal communication skills. CONCLUSIONS: With experience, professional counselling skills improve and awareness about the need to incorporate counselling training also increases.

Development & Validation of Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS).

OBJECTIVES: To develop "Urdu Receptive Language Scale (URLS)" for Urdu speaking Pakistani children of age 0-6 years. METHODS: This exploratory study was done at mainstream schools and day care centers on children with normal language development between the ages of 0-6 years from 1st March 2016 to 31st August 2016, by using convenient sampling technique. Firstly, the items for the questionnaire were constructed from four sources: literature review, experts, parents and direct observation of 384 Children of same age. Secondly the constructed test items were sent to the field experts (SLP's) for the purpose of improvement. Thirdly, after incorporation of suggestions, the improved items were securitized by Urdu experts and finalized. In the next step, these items were tested for Relevance, Ambiguity, Clarity and Simplicity from field experts. The developed scale was then analyzed for reliability and validity by SPSS Version-18. RESULTS: Study resulted in a 59 items Urdu Receptive Language Scale with each age range having different test items distribution. The mean of the relevance, clarity, simplicity, and ambiguity of test items was 3.89. The Item content validity index value was one for each of the 59 items. The content validity index for the entire scale was also one. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.948, which indicates a high level of internal consistency. CONCLUSION: The developed 59 Item Urdu Receptive Language Scale is reliable and valid tool for language assessment of Urdu speaking Pakistani children of 0-6 years age.