Global virtual student conference for students by students (co-hosted by our very own)

On the 10th of October 2022, the first ever student-led, global student conference took place on the
topic of “Global Student Perspectives on Person-Centered Care”. Person-centred care (PCC) ensures that
people are equal and active partners in the management of their hearing difficulties. Designed around
the individual, PCC focuses on and is respectful of people’s needs and preferences, involves family and
other communication partners, and includes shared decision-making and goal-setting.

The conference was hosted by the Ida Institute in collaboration with members from Person-Centered
Hearing Network (PCHN). The PCHN is a unique global collaboration, facilitated by the Ida Institute and
committed to researching, enabling, and implementing person-centered hearing care. From the PCHN, six
academic partners organised the conference. The University of Pretoria (RSA) along with the University of
Cape Town (RSA), University of Southampton (UK), Aston University (UK), Rush University Medical Center
(USA), Nova Southeastern University (USA) made this day possible.

This online, global student conference was initiated by Saira Hussain (Aston University,) and Victoria
Watson (University of Southampton), who envisioned to give a voice to students on PCC and allow them
to share their experiences with fellow students across the globe. Louise Metcalfe, a postgraduate
master’s student at the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (University of Pretoria)
co-developed and co-hosted the conference with Ella Ujjal (University of Southampton). University of
Pretoria representatives, Prof Faheema Mahomed-Asmail and Dr Talita le Roux assisted and supported
Louise Metcalfe in preparation and during the event. The conference was attended and positively
received by a total of 203 students across the various Universities presenting as well as students from
University of Akron (USA), Universidade Federal de Sergipe (Brazil) and Vives University (Belgium).

University of Pretoria’s session comprised of clients’ perceptions of PCC and an animation on the six
elements of PCC, that was created with support received from Creative Studios. Cultural competence and
barriers to PCC, were among the topics discussed during the session. Students who attended the
conference acknowledged, the ongoing process of developing cultural competence in a pre-post-survey.
A heightened sense of self-awareness and need for reflection was also noted in the survey, to treat future
clients with respect and unbiased care. When comparing students’ understanding of various PCC
concepts, students’ understanding improved after the conference.