| The purpose of this study was to identify counseling competencies considered important for audiologists to possess to provide effective counseling in practice.To achieve this, researchers and clinicians with expertise in audiologic counseling, were recruited to participate in a three-round consensus survey. These experts were asked to generate and rate a list of counseling competency items they believed were important for audiologists to possess. In the final round of the study, final consensus was met on 64 counseling competency items (16 knowledge, 35 skills, and 13 attitudinal items) deemed important for audiologists to possess. The results of this study revealed that current practice guidelines in the field lack the clarity and detail necessary for audiologists to provide effective counseling in practice. Items that met consensus can inform counseling competencies students can acquire during pre-professional training. Future research is proposed to explore what is needed to move these competencies forward into training/practice and to help improve audiologic patient/family outcomes. |
