Educating for Community-Based Practice: A Collaborative Strategy

SUMMARY

This paper describes creative instruction strategies that prepare students for community-based practice. These educational innovations are designed to prepare graduates to understand occupation-based service delivery in community settings, to develop community-built programs that are responsive to community needs, and to understand how to both secure funding for and market occupational therapy services in the community. The process and products of collaboration between instructors in an administration and a community-based practice course are described. Outcome data from students and community partners are presented. Strategies for successful community partnerships and recommendations for continued development of these educational approaches are presented based on these data.     

The self-reported use of research in clinical practice: A survey of occupational therapists in Sweden

Background: Today, healthcare providers and occupational therapists are increasingly required to rely on evidence-based practices. In both outpatient and inpatient settings, the use of research-based practices can be identified using the Research Utilization Measure questionnaire. Aim: This study explores how occupational therapists in Sweden perceive research utilization. Method: The Research Utilization Measure was sent to 807 randomly selected occupational therapists in Sweden, and the response rate was 59% (n = 472). Results: The majority of respondents (56%, n = 256) reported use of research-based knowledge in their practice “very or rather often”, although 49% (n = 225) of the therapists noted that they “very seldom or never” discussed research findings with their managers. Differences in answers for most items were related to degree of education and length of experience. Occupational therapists with higher education levels more often reported use of research in their clinical practice and therapists with greater experience less often reported use of research in their clinical practice. Conclusion: Education seems to influence the degree to which occupational therapists rely on research to inform their practices. A future challenge for managers and occupational therapists is to create strategic discussions on how to implement treatment that is based on current research.     

Emotional Intelligence and Personality Traits as Predictors of Occupational Therapy students' Practice Education Performance: A Cross‐Sectional Study

This study investigated whether occupational therapy students' emotional intelligence and personality traits are predictive of specific aspects of their fieldwork performance. A total of 114 second and third year undergraduate occupational therapy students (86.6% response rate) completed the Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Genos EI) and the Ten‐Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). Fieldwork performance scores were obtained from the Student Practice Evaluation Form Revised (SPEF‐R). Linear regressions were completed with the SPEF‐R domains being the dependent variables and the Genos EI and TIPI factors being the independent variables. Regression analysis results revealed that the Genos EI subscales of Emotional Management of Others (EMO), Emotional Awareness of Others (EAO), Emotional Expression (EEX) and Emotional Reasoning (ERE) were significant predictors of various domains of students' fieldwork performance. EAO and ERE were significant predictors of students' Communication Skills accounting for 4.6% of its variance. EMO, EAO, EEX and ERE were significant predictors of students' Documentation Skills explaining 6.8% of its variance. EMO was a significant predictor of students' Professional Behaviour accounting for 3.2% of its variance. No TIPI factors were found to be significant predictors of the SPEF‐R domains. Occupational therapy students' emotional intelligence was a significant predictor of components of their fieldwork performance while students' personality traits were not. The convenience sampling approach used, small sample size recruited and potential issue of social desirability of the self‐reported Genos EI and TIPI data are acknowledged as study limitations. It is recommended that other studies be completed to investigate if any other relevant constructs or factors are predictive of occupational therapy students' fieldwork performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Clinical reasoning and the occupational therapy curriculum

Several reasoning styles are used by occupational therapists when they evaluate clients' problems. This study investigated the influence of the occupational therapy curriculum in Hong Kong on therapists' clinical reasoning styles. Two groups of therapists with different clinical experience were recruited. Through interviews with the therapists after identifying clients' problems using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, their clinical reasoning styles were explored. The local occupational therapy curriculum was analysed to isolate the components that influence clinical reasoning. Results showed that more experienced therapists use conditional reasoning that considers clients' needs in their future lives whereas junior therapists use procedural reasoning that focuses on clients' disabilities. The analysis of the occupational therapy curriculum indicated that it prepared the students with an equal emphasis on theoretical and clinical subjects and fieldwork practice. The present curriculum was useful in providing educational preparation for novice therapists. However, the period of fieldwork practice can be lengthened to allow adequate maturation of clinical reasoning skills. Problem‐based learning can be incorporated to facilitate students' problem‐solving and self‐directed learning skills. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd.     

A Course in Autoethnography: Fostering Reflective Practitioners in Occupational Therapy

This paper describes an academic course designed to lay the foundation for reflective practice in occupational therapy. In this course, students conduct highly personalized research based on experiences in Level II fieldwork that leads to writing an autoethnography. The paper describes autoethnography, details its use in occupational therapy literature, and discusses the design and outcomes of the course. Students' experiences with this autobiographical genre of qualitative research are illustrated. In the writing process, students find clinical stories that must be told and learn to “move around” in their stories. The outcomes of the course include integration of personal and professional experiences, closure to academic preparation, and deep reflection about what it means to be an occupational therapist.     

Sharing the agenda: pondering the politics and practices of occupational therapy research

Abstract

Aims: Occupational therapists espouse a client-centred philosophy of practice, yet little attention has been given to pondering the politics or client-centred practices of occupational therapy research. The aim of this paper is thus to foster reflection on occupational therapy's commitment to client-centredness in the practice of occupational therapy research. Major findings: Occupational therapy research is not consistently undertaken in a collaborative manner. Power resides in control of the research agenda and participants' priorities can be supplanted by those of researchers. However, examples from the literature and from the authors' research suggest that study participants may wish to influence the research agenda such that their needs and priorities are addressed. Practice conclusion: Client-centred principles appear to require occupational therapists to undertake collaborative research and to ensure that research agendas are informed by clients' priorities. Commitment to client-centred principles demands concerted efforts to identify and address potential barriers to meaningful client participation in the occupation of research. However, it is argued that if researchers and disabled people collaborate, and pool their knowledge and expertise, they may achieve research that is more philosophically compatible with espoused professional values; and that collaborative research may also inform more relevant and useful client-centred clinical practices.     

‘I'm allowed to experiment’: the role of people with psychiatric disorders in facilitating students' learning

Fieldwork education brings students into close contact with the people who use occupational therapy services and is an important avenue for socializing students into professionally accepted views of, and behaviours towards, these people. Drawing on narrative data from a naturalistic study of nine Australian occupational therapy students' fieldwork experiences in psychiatric hospital settings, this paper explores the role of people with psychiatric disorders in facilitating students' learning. Two terms are used by the authors to represent students' understanding of these people for educational purposes, namely, as learning resources and as demonstration models. From students' narratives, examples of the attributes they sought to acquire and demonstrate through involvement with people with psychiatric disorders are discussed. There are indications from these data that students' educational needs may foster a view of people with psychiatric disorders as objects in the service of students' learning. Copyright © 1998 Whurr Publishers Ltd.     

Evaluation of the effect of using online database to enhance students’ learning of occupational therapy theories in occupational therapy education

BackgroundLearning about occupational therapy theories is crucial to occupational therapy education, and an online database is developed to facilitate students’ learning of occupational therapy theories in this study.AimThis study was conducted to evaluate the effect of this database on users’ experiences.MethodsA mixed-method approach, including surveys and focus groups, was used. First- and third-year students who had studied occupational therapy theory at a university participated in this study.ResultsOne-hundred-and-twenty students completed the surveys, and 11 students participated in the focus groups. The students demonstrated a significant increase in the number of theories they named and their perceived understanding of theories after the semester. They rated the content, utility and satisfaction with the database in facilitating their understanding/learning of theories as moderate-good. Based on qualitative data, it appeared that the database provided specific information about occupational therapy theories and facilitated students’ learning and level of interest in learning about them. However, the first-year students who accessed the database showed a significantly decreased level of interest in learning about theories, but such the decrease was not found in the third-year students.ConclusionThe study findings suggest that the use of an online database may enhance students'' learning about occupational therapy theories in educational settings.     

Opportunity model of collaboration: a model for assessment instrument development

Collaboration between allied health educators and clinicians has a long history in terms of fieldwork education. Use of collaborative partnerships for practice endeavors and research also has been reported in the literature. Another possible area in which collaboration could be effective is the development of an assessment instrument. Collaboration can have negative and positive results, however, and individuals who plan an instrument development project are cautioned to pay attention to the collaborative nature of the project as well as to the instrument development task itself. This article describes a model for collaboration that evolved out of an instrument development project involving educators from the occupational therapy programs at Utica College and the University of Illinois, Chicago; clinicians in school-based practice; and occupational therapy students. Experiences from the project are used to illustrate concepts of the model.     

Interprofessional practice: Social work students’ perspectives on collaboration

ABSTRACT

As the value of interprofessional practice becomes increasingly recognized, it is critical to educate social work students so that they understand the importance of interprofessional practice, and the role that social workers play. The objective of this research was to understand social work students’ experiences, attitudes, and perspectives toward interprofessional practice. A cross-sectional, non-probability convenience sample was used (N = 125), with data collected from students in a large school of social work in New York State in order to understand their experiences in the field and classroom. Results of a linear regression showed that overall, students had positive perspectives on interprofessional collaboration, with one of the strongest predictors being students' positive attitudes toward interprofessional practice. The results also point to students having limited experience in working in interprofessional teams and exposure to training, either on the job or in the classroom. To help students gain more experience and training, fieldwork opportunities in interprofessional practice can be expanded, and more courses can be offered, particularly collaborating with other academic disciplines.     

Teaching Evidence-Based Practice in a Distance Education Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program: Strategies for Professional Growth and Advancing the Profession

ABSTRACT

The Centennial Vision of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) projects that by 2017 all occupational therapy (OT) practice areas will be supported by evidence. Achieving this goal requires preparing clinicians with the skills to assimilate, analyze, and apply research to their areas of practice and communicate the value of OT services to consumers and payers. These skills are at the heart of evidence-based practice (EBP). Educators must be prepared to teach EBP skills in both entry-level and postprofessional programs. This article outlines how EBP can be taught to postprofessional occupational therapy clinical doctoral students using a distance education format. Key features of a successful EBP course include having access to full-text electronic articles, opportunities for students to explore the literature in their own areas of interest, consistent and timely feedback on written work and discussion topics, and opportunities to collaborate with peers.     

Towards family-centred practice in paediatric occupational therapy: A review of the literature on parent–therapist collaboration

The importance of parent involvement in intervention with children has always been recognised by occupational therapists. Current trends in paediatric service delivery have been towards family-centred care, with a central component of this approach being parent–therapist collaboration in planning and evaluating intervention. This paper reviews issues and provides suggestions for clinical practice from the literature on parent–therapist collaboration, including consideration of parents' diversity and unique perspectives, development of effective parent–therapist relationships, establishment of shared goals and priorities when planning intervention, and development of services that support parent–therapist collaboration. Further research is needed in Australian settings to explore the nature of parent–therapist partnerships, the impact of parent participation throughout the intervention process and the extent to which collaboration with parents results in better therapy outcomes for the child and their family.     

Evidence-Based Practice in Occupational Therapy Curricula

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to describe currently used educational strategies for teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) in entry-level master's degree occupational therapy programs in the United States. Fifty-eight entry-level occupational therapy program directors completed a survey. Results showed that occupational therapy programs consistently use a wide variety of EBP resources for teaching EBP including database searches, literature reviews, and the development of a research proposal. Less commonly used strategies include the use of case stories and journal clubs. The current study provides a baseline of existing strategies taught in entry level programs that may be built upon to gather more information about the content of EBP coursework, and determine ways to foster implementation of EBP in practice.     

Other worlds and other lives: A study of occupational therapy student perceptions of cultural difference

The research described in this article was a study of 22 first year occupational therapy students at the beginning of their educational programme, ie. Bachelor of Health Science (Occupational Therapy) at the Auckland Institute of Technology. The research design was qualitative with a phenomenological orientation and utilised a semi-structured interview format. This ‘snapshot’ of occupational therapy students at the beginning of their education constitutes part of a larger, longitudinal study done in conjunction with the school of occupational therapy at the University of British Columbia, Canada. The findings from this phase of the research indicated that students' perceptions of themselves as people influenced their perceptions of cultural difference. Perhaps not surprisingly, prior learning in the shape of work experiences, friendships and travel appeared to be significant influences on the students' perceptions of individuals from differing cultural backgrounds to themselves. There is a need for occupational therapy educators to acknowledge and value the life experiences and skills of their students at entry to the programme. Similarly, issues of culture, cultural difference, race and ethnicity need to be dealt with in the context of a coherent curriculum model with context specific features. Recommendations arising from this research relate to greater articulation of the issues outlined above to students, as well as clear statements regarding the value orientation of the school/department in relation to cultural difference. This is necessary as, in the absence of this information, students are only able to work from a largely assumptive basis. The most important recommendation is that this longitudinal study continue so that more detailed data can be gathered over time that will assist in the development of a deeper understanding of how students develop knowledge and skills in working with individuals who are culturally different over he duration of their educational programme.