Speech language pathology certification and licensure requirements on interprofessional education and practice: a content analysis

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work in diverse settings-including schools, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health-that require interprofessional practice (IPP). Interprofessional education (IPE) prepares professionals from multiple disciplines to learn with, from, and about each other to enable effective collaboration and improve outcomes. This content analysis examines how state licensure and national certification requirements for SLPs emphasize IPE and IPP. To analyze the extent to which licensing and certification bodies for SLPs in the United States incorporate IPE and IPP requirements into their professional standards. A descriptive content analysis was conducted on 50 U.S. state licensure requirements and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) national certification standards. Each document was reviewed for the presence of 12 keywords related to IPE and IPP. Frequency counts and qualitative contextual analysis were performed to identify both the occurrence and the context in which the terms were mentioned. This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods design. None of the state licensure documents explicitly referenced IPE or IPP. The most frequently mentioned related professions were physicians (76%), teachers (40%), and nursing (38%), but these references rarely reflected structured interprofessional roles. ASHA certification standards referenced IPE and IPP more often than state documents but did not consistently identify key collaborative partners such as nursing or dietetics. Findings suggest a limited emphasis on IPE and IPP in U.S. SLP licensure and certification requirements. Strengthening these standards to explicitly address interprofessional competencies could better prepare future SLPs to collaborate effectively across settings and with diverse partners, thereby improving outcomes for clients, and students.