Author: Madeline  C.  Ruffin

Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Graduation Year: 2016

Thesis Advisor: Nancy E. Hall

Description of Publication: Medical voluntourism is becoming increasingly popular among various health disciplines. The volunteer work is typically short-term and occurs outside of the home country. This paper reviews the literature regarding medical voluntourism in developing countries and discusses the ethical implications and barriers that arise around the quality of care. Its primary focus will be volunteer work in the field of Speech Language Pathology. The goal of this paper is to provide a new approach to medical voluntourism that aids in bettering the experience of volunteer Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) and also improving the quality of care given. In addition to discussing current practices surrounding the work of SLPs, it will challenge these practices by analyzing the ethical issues and barriers that are specific to this field. It concludes by suggesting a new approach for medical voluntourism in the Speech Language Pathology field that aims to overcome these issues.

Location of Publication:

• fogler
• reynolds

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/425