Abstract
Counseling in audiology is an important aspect of service delivery. How audiologists
interact with patients and foster counseling relationships to help patients and families
understand and live with hearing loss can impact outcomes of audiological interventions.
Currently, variability exists in how graduate training programs are teaching counseling
skills, and the extent to which counseling skills development is supported in clinical
experiences is unclear. This article seeks to explore the perspectives related to
the importance of counseling and counseling training experiences received through
clinical instruction of Au.D. students beginning their final year of study, to identify
where counseling training might be limited, and to examine how counseling skills might
be better supported. Findings revealed that students generally appreciate the importance
of counseling in audiology. Data suggest that how students are supported in developing
counseling skills appears to be variable and unstructured.
Keywords
Counseling - audiology - training
