Comparison of Occupational Therapy Students' Perceived Skills After Traditional and Nontraditional Fieldwork

Headnote

MeSH TERMS

* functional laterality

* movement disorders

* schizophrenia

* size perception

* task performance and analysis

We studied students' perceptions regarding their professional and personal skills and compared the findings for those who completed community fieldwork (CF) with those completing traditional fieldwork (TF). We also compared the perceptions of CF students whose placement settings had an active occupational therapist present versus those whose settings did not. Results showed no significant differences in perceptions of professional and personal skills between the students involved in CF and those involved in TF. However, students who completed CF in a setting without an active occupational therapist present scored significantly higher in their perception of their personal responsibility, cultural competence, and overall personal skills than students whose fieldwork location had an active occupational therapist present. Our study indicates the value of using various supervisory strategies for occupational therapy students during fieldwork. Further studies are warranted.

Gat, S., & Ratzon, N. Z. (2014). Comparison of occupational therapy students' perceived skills after traditional and nontraditional fieldwork. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68, e47-e54. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2014.007732

Clinical education has long been recognized as a critical component of student learning in occupational therapy and has been identified as an essential bridge between the classroom and the service setting (Jung, Sainsbury, Grum, Wilkins, & Tryssenaar, 2002). Clinical education enables students to learn and practice in a real-life setting so that they may integrate theory with practice to demonstrate their professional and personal skills (Cavanaugh & Cohen, 2012; Holmes et al., 2010; Mackenzie, 2002; Mulholland & Derdall, 2005; Rodger, Fitzgerald, Davila, Millar, & Allison, 2011). The occupational therapy literature often refers to fieldwork placements as either traditional or nontraditional (Flecky, 2011; Moffett & Garbarini, 2004; Mulholland & Derdall, 2005). In traditional fieldwork (TF), students typically are supervised directly by an occupational therapist and perform tasks within well-established roles. In nontraditional fieldwork, no occupational therapy services may be available on site. Instead, students are supervised using various supervisory models and are challenged to explore the potential role of an occupational therapist within a new setting where the roles are not as clearly defined as in TF (Moffett & Garbarini, 2004; Mulholland & Derdall, 2005).

Many nontraditional types of practice are performed within communitybased service. Scaffa...