Challenges and Rewards of Private Practice: A Focus Group Study of African American Speech-Language Pathologists".

" Challenges and Rewards of Private Practice: A Focus Group Study of African American Speech-Language Pathologists". This study provided a focused group interview discussion model examining the perceptions of African American speech-language pathologists who owned or co-owned private practice about the challenges and rewards of working in this employment venue. Six participants were engaged in a focused group interview. These participants represented the major demographic regions in North Carolina. Results were analyzed using best practice methodology for focused group interviews including indexing, management and interpretation, Thematic highlights regarding client challenges and satisfaction and career challenges and satisfaction were discussed. Interpretation of transcripts revealed the need for culturally sensitive and culturally responsive service delivery when working with diverse population. Such dynamics play a factor in establishing trust and rapport building between the client and clinician relationship. Additionally, themes identified the need for advocacy and networking with critical stakeholders as key in the vitality of the profession and promoting more culturally and linguistically diverse professionals within the discipline. Further research is suggested to explore more generalizable results among a wider range of private practitioners in speech-language pathology. KEY WORDS: Private practice, African American speech-language pathologists