Strategies To Promote The Quality of Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Education: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

\n Background Clinical education is a bridge between theory and practice. The purpose of this study was to develop the strategies to promote the quality of occupational therapy fieldwork education.MethodsThe qualitative content analysis was used to identify the promoting strategies of fieldwork quality in occupational therapy from students and clinical educators’ perspectives during the 2019–2020 academic sessions. Participants were 12 fieldwork educators (mean age=39.33yr, Male=5, female 7) and 14 students (mean age=23.28yr, Male=7, female 7) in code extraction phase and 16 fieldwork educators (12 of them were in code extraction phase too) in actions of strategies scoring phase.ResultsFollowing the analysis of the data, the prompting strategies categorized into 4 major categories and 10 subcategories: factors related to Fieldwork educators (Improving clinical teaching skills, Enhancing fieldwork management skills, Motivating fieldwork educators and Fostering coordination between fieldwork educators), related to Educational Planning (Modifying clinical fieldwork planning, Revising curriculums), related to Students (Empowering students, Motivating students) and related to Fieldwork settings ( Improving social environment, Improving physical environment ). Based on the qualitative content analysis and 3 expert panels finally the 23 promoting actions were identified.Conclusions Improving the quality of fieldwork education in occupational therapy needs a systematic collaboration between educators, students and educational planners. By doing the promoting actions on fieldwork education process in occupational therapy, the quality of fieldwork education in occupational therapy may improve.