Client outcomes after student community fieldwork in Russia

This short report outlines how occupational therapy education was introduced in Russia in 1996 through a partnership between Canadian and Russian academic organizations and consumer groups. Role‐emerging placements were selected as a strategy to provide clinical experience in a healthcare system where there were no established occupational therapists. Students' ability to help clients to improve their occupational performance was evaluated through a record audit when the second cohort of students had completed their training. Thirty‐one files of clients aged 6 to 80 were reviewed. Clients' ratings of performance and satisfaction scores on the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure before and after occupational therapy intervention were examined. Analysis using the Wilcoxon signed rank test showed highly significant differences (p=0.001), indicating that students were able to help clients to improve their occupational performance. This is also interpreted as an indication of the success of the education programme. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd.