Name
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)About
Location
MarylandOrganization/Facility
Health CareWebsite
ASHACommunication Access: Better Health Starts with Effective Communication
Initiative Categories
Focus Areas
- Disability
- Health Equity
- Social Determinants of Health
Summary
People living with speech, language, voice, hearing, and cognitive difficulties often struggle to access the information and accommodations they need for their health care. This lack of effective communication access not only leads to frustration for everyone involved in a care interaction; it also can be a factor in poorer health and health care outcomes.
Asking individuals about their communication needs FIRST—and making necessary modifications—can improve access to quality care and reduce health disparities. Yet, many health care workers feel uncomfortable or unprepared to do so. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists can help by engaging in interprofessional education, training, and collaborative practice to lessen communication barriers. They can also empower their patients and clients with self-advocacy tools that support their rights to accessible, effective communication and equitable care.
ASHA officially launched its Communication Access initiative in 2024 as part of the Association's Strategic Objective #2: Advance Interprofessional Education and Interprofessional Collaborative Practice (IPE/IPP). Messaging centers around the acronym ACCESS, which spells out six key principles to improve effective communication access in health services and programs. Plans for the initiative—to be rolled out in stages—include web resources for health professionals and front-line staff, health system administrators, and consumers with information about:
- effective communication access and its benefits in health settings;
- interprofessional roles in addressing communication barriers at individual and systems levels;
- tools and resources to (a) improve accessibility and (b) learn more about effective communication and communication disabilities.
Other activities include exhibiting or presenting on the topic of communication access and health at related professional conferences, engaging in media interviews and podcasts, highlighting ASHA members’ work in this area, sharing articles on the topic with a wide range of health professionals, creating videos to spread the initiative’s message, and collaborating with international associations doing similar work.
For More Information
See the Communication Access site or contact Adena Dacy (she/her) at healthservices@asha.org.
This initiative was submitted on August 27, 2024.