Ethical Concerns in Voluntourism in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology

There is growing interest in short-term volunteering (i.e., volunteer tourism) to contribute to the development of speech-language pathology (SLP) and audiology (AUD) in global contexts. While this is exciting, professionals and students must be properly prepared for such trips to ensure cultural safety and avoid potential ethical concerns and pitfalls of neo-colonialist perspectives in working in resource-poor contexts. There is a burgeoning literature on volunteer tourism and medical tourism that can be used to assist us in planning and preparing for such work. Some examples from the first author's experiences in Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya are used to illustrate some of the ethical concerns in SLPs' and AUDs' voluntourism. This article suggests that we attend to the motivations of volunteers, conduct training to ensure culturally safe and sustainable practices, and assist volunteers in coping with culture shock and re-entry shock. Research is needed to understand best practices in assessment and treatment in global contexts and best practices in pre- and post-trip training for SLP/AUD volunteers and students.