• Descripción

Evidence-Based Practice is a compulsory course taken in the fifth semester of the Joint Bachelor's Degree in Speech and Language Therapy (UVic-UCC, UOC).

The goal is to introduce students to the basics of evidence-based practice, following a mixed approach combining theory and hands-on experience.

The course is organized into five blocks. The first block is introductory, covering what evidence-based practice is, its development over time (both in the broader field of health sciences and in speech and language therapy specifically) and its basic principles. It also goes into the strengths and limitations of this approach and the steps involved in its implementation. The remaining four blocks hone in on the various stages of a systematic review: formulating a clinical question, finding the best available evidence to answer it, assessing the quality and validity of the evidence found, putting this evidence into practice and evaluating the results.

Overall, the course is aimed at encouraging students to think critically about the use, interpretation and dissemination of research results, as well as how to bring these results into clinical speech and language therapy practice.

Language of instruction: English

• Información previa a la matrícula

Students should note that some of the reference works and other materials required to complete the course's assessable activities (continuous assessment activities and a synthesis test) are in English.

• Objetivos y competencias

Competencies

General and basic competencies (GC/BC)

GC3 - Be empathetic in your interactions with other people, showing interpersonal skills.

BC2 - Apply knowledge to your job or occupation in a professional manner and have the skills usually demonstrated by making and defending arguments and solving problems within your field of study.

 BC4 - Convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Interdisciplinary competencies (IC)

IC2 - Project the values of entrepreneurship and innovation in the course of your personal academic and professional career through contact with different professional realities and with motivation for professional development.

IC6 - Use different forms of verbal, written or audiovisual communication, in your mother tongue or in foreign languages, with a high level of correctness in use, form and content.

IC7 - Become the main player in your own formative process, focusing on personal and professional improvement and the acquisition of a complete education that enables you to learn and live in a context of language diversity, with diverse social, cultural and economic realities.

Specific competencies (SC)

SC1 - Design, implement and assess actions to prevent communication and language disorders.

SC2 - Explore, evaluate, diagnose and give prognoses concerning the evolution of communication and language disorders from a multidisciplinary perspective based on the ability to interpret medical records, applying principles based on the best information available and in conditions of clinical safety.

SC3 - Use speech therapy examination techniques and instruments, and record, synthesize and interpret the data supplied, integrating them in the general body of information.

SC4 - Master the terminology used in order to ensure effective interaction with other professionals.

SC5 - Design and carry out individual and group speech therapy treatments, establishing objectives and stages, with the most effective and adequate methods, techniques and resources, in line with the different stages of human development.

SC7 - Advise users' families and social milieu, encouraging their participation and collaboration in the speech therapy process.

SC9 - Understand the scientific foundations that underpin speech therapy and its evolution, critically assessing the terminology, clinical trials and methodology of the research associated with speech therapy.

SC11 - Explain and provide the rationale for the treatment selected.

SC12 - Know, design and apply preventive programmes associated with speech therapy and foster communication skills among the general population.

SC13 - Be able to develop skills such as regulating one's own learning, problem-solving, critical reasoning and adapting to new situations.

 SC14 - Know and be able to integrate biological (anatomy and physiology), psychological (processes and evolutionary development), linguistic and learning bases for speech therapy intervention in communication, language, speech, hearing, voice and non-verbal oral functions.

SC15 - Be familiar with the disorders affecting communication, language, speech, hearing, voice and non-verbal oral functions.

 SC16 - Know and critically assess the techniques and instruments for assessment and diagnosis in speech therapy, as well as the procedures for speech therapy intervention.

 SC17 - Be able to establish clear and efficient communication with the patient, their family and the other professionals involved in their care, adapting to their sociolinguistic and cultural characteristics.

SC18 - Prepare and write examination and diagnosis, follow-up, treatment completion and referral reports. SC20 - Be able to use information and communication technologies.

SC23 - Work as a speech therapist, respecting your patients' autonomy and their genetic, demographic, cultural and economic determinants, applying the principles of social justice and understanding the ethical implications of health in a changing world.

Objectives

The course is designed for students to:

• Understand the relationship between research processes and clinical speech and language therapy, with a view to improving the quality of research and incorporating research results in professional practice.
• Learn the basic fundamentals of evidence-based practice in speech and language therapy.
• Understand the guiding principles for formulating clinical questions in the field of speech and language therapy.
• Know the steps to finding scientific evidence in the field of speech and language therapy.
• Understand the importance of quality evidence, use quality assessment tools, put evidence into practice in speech and language therapy and evaluate the results.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students should be able to:

• Use verbal and paraverbal cues to convey active listening while speaking with patients and their families and establish an empathy-driven rapport with them.
• Solve problems and make decisions in clinical practice in accordance with the legal framework regulating the profession of speech and language therapist.
• Handle problems and situations that arise in this line of work while displaying entrepreneurial and innovative attitudes.
• Write reports and other (mainly technical) documents using correct spelling and grammar in Catalan, Spanish and English.
• Critically and responsibly assess their own practice and that of others.
• Apply their knowledge, understanding and problem-solving skills in complex or professional and specialized fields of work that require the use of creative and innovative ideas.
• Communicate knowledge, methodologies, ideas, problems and solutions in the field of speech and language therapy clearly and accurately to all types of audiences (both specialist and non-specialist).
• Follow the steps of evidence-based practice to devise projects in response to specific demands for scientific evidence.
• Assess scientific works critically and thoughtfully.
• Search for and select scientific articles in the field of speech and language therapy in the databases run by the highest impact journals.
• Use reference managers adeptly to gather, organize and cite bibliographic references in a research document with the expected rigour.
• Reports evaluation findings in an appropriate manner
• Describes the necessity of interdisciplinary treatment for individuals with secondary speech therapy modifications
• Argues orally and in writing the impressions of the diagnostic procedure, tailoring it to the interlocutor, whether a professional or a family member.
• Identifies the many phases of the evaluation and diagnosis process and uses the primary techniques for examining changes in oral and written language, speech, voice, and swallowing.
• Evaluates the utility of clinical guidelines for alterations in speech therapy, as well as the procedures and instruments produced from each.
• Generates intervention reports with the appropriate formal rectification, customizing the essential information for the family as well as other professionals involved in the case (phoniatrists, ENT specialists, teachers, paediatricians, etc.).

• Contenidos

1. Introducción a la Práctica Basada en la Evidencia (PBE)

1.1. Definición de PBE. 

1.2. Principios de la PBE. 

1.3. Contexto histórico de desarrollo de la PBE.

1.4. Fortalezas de la PBE.

1.5. Problemas (debilidades, críticas, controversias y barreras) en torno a la PBE.

1.6 Fases de la PBE. 

2. Definición de la pregunta clínica. 

2.1. Definición de la pregunta clínica.

3. Búsqueda de evidencia. 

3.1.Fases de la estrategia de búsqueda.  

4. Evaluación de la calidad de la evidencia.

4.1.Evaluación de la calidad de la evidencia. 

5. Decisión e implementación de la evidencia, y evaluación de la intervención.

5.1. Conexión con pregunta clínica. Base para intervenir.

5.2. Mapa de la evidencia.

5.3 Diseños intervenciones.

• Consulta de los recursos de aprendizaje de la UOC para la asignatura

• Información adicional sobre los recursos de aprendizaje y herramientas de apoyo

• Informaciones sobre la evaluación en la UOC

El proceso de evaluación se fundamenta en el trabajo personal de cada estudiante y presupone la autenticidad de la autoría y la originalidad de los ejercicios realizados.

La falta de autenticidad en la autoría o de originalidad de las pruebas de evaluación; la copia o el plagio; el intento fraudulento de obtener un resultado académico mejor; la colaboración, el encubrimiento o el favorecimiento de la copia, o la utilización de material o dispositivos no autorizados durante la evaluación, entre otras, son conductas irregulares que pueden tener consecuencias académicas y disciplinarias graves.

Por un lado, si se detecta alguna de estas conductas irregulares, puede comportar el suspenso (D/0) en las actividades evaluables que se definan en el plan docente - incluidas las pruebas finales - o en la calificación final de la asignatura, ya sea porque se han utilizado materiales o dispositivos no autorizados durante las pruebas, como redes sociales o buscadores de información en internet, porque se han copiado fragmentos de texto de una fuente externa (internet, apuntes, libros, artículos, trabajos o pruebas del resto de estudiantes, etc.) sin la correspondiente citación, o porque se ha practicado cualquier otra conducta irregular.

Por el otro, y de acuerdo con las normativas académicas, las conductas irregulares en la evaluación, además de comportar el suspenso de la asignatura, pueden dar lugar a la incoación de un procedimiento disciplinario y a la aplicación, si procede, de la sanción que corresponda.

La UOC se reserva la potestad de solicitar al estudiante que se identifique o que acredite la autoría de su trabajo a lo largo de todo el proceso de evaluación por los medios que establezca la universidad (síncronos o asíncronos). A estos efectos, la UOC puede exigir al estudiante el uso de un micrófono, una cámara u otras herramientas durante la evaluación y que este se asegure de que funcionan correctamente.

La verificación de los conocimientos para garantizar la autoría de la prueba no implicará en ningún caso una segunda evaluación.

• Consulta del modelo de evaluación