Kit Sinclair

Development of a Questionnaire to Measure the Level of Reflective Thinking

Many courses aim to promote reflective thinking or reflection upon practice, but there is a scarcity of readily usable instruments to determine whether students engage in reflective thinking and, if so, to what extent. This paper reports the development and testing of such an instrument. To ensure validity, the constructs measured were derived from the extensive literature on reflective thinking, particularly the writing of Mezirow. A combination of the literature review and initial testing led to the development of a four-scale instrument measuring four constructs; habitual action, understanding, reflection and critical reflection. The final version of the instrument was tested with a sample of 303 students from eight classes of a health science faculty. The reliability of the scales was established by acceptable Cronbach alpha values. Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit to the proposed four-factor structure. Comparison of mean scores between the eight classes showed predicted significant differences on each of the four scales between undergraduate and postgraduate students.

A four‐category scheme for coding and assessing the level of reflection in written work

Where courses have as an aim the promotion of reflective practice, it will enhance the achievement of the goal if the level of reflective thinking is assessed. To do this in a satisfactory way requires a reliable protocol for assessing the level of reflection in written work. This article presents a protocol that can be used to guide the allocation of work to four categories, namely: habitual action/non‐reflection, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection. Intermediate categories can also be used. Detailed descriptors of each category to guide the process are provided. The protocol was tested by four assessors independently using it to grade a set of written work, and very good agreement was obtained.

Developing Curricula to Encourage Students to Write Reflective Journals

ABSTRACT How should courses be arranged if students are to be encouraged to reflect upon their practice through the writing of reflective journals? This research question was addressed in action research studies of five courses in the allied health areas. The five studies fed into one overall project which synthesised findings from the five subprojects through the critical discussions of the participants. It was discovered that students needed an introduction to and feedback upon reflective writing as it differed from other types of writing required in academic courses. For reflective writing to be taken seriously, it needed to be an integral part of the course. Issues such as the disclosure of journal entries and the assessment of reflective writing needed to be handled sensitively. The courses studied evolved positions on these issues which attempted to balance dichotomous concerns.

Encouraging Critical Reflection Through Small Group Discussion of Journal Writing

SUMMARY This study examines the ways in which reflective journal writing can be used to promote critical discussion in small group tutorials. Conclusions are drawn by synthesizing findings from action research studies of five professional education courses in the allied health area. It was found that reflective writing serves as a valuable stimulus for discussion and that the two in combination lead to fresh insights for students and promote critical reflection. The study examines the impact upon critical discussion of variables such as disclosure, ground‐rules, group size, physical arrangement of classrooms, inter‐group interaction and the role of the tutor. In formulating arrangements for journal writing and tutorials, it was often necessary to develop an intelligent working position between apparent dichotomies.

Reporting on the WFOT-CBR master project plan: the data collection subproject

Abstract This data collection subproject is part of the WFOT-CBR master project plan and serves as evidence of the commitment of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) to promote community-based rehabilitation (CBR) as an approach to promote access to occupation for all. This subproject aimed to collect data on the contributions of occupational therapists in CBR with the purpose to promote awareness on CBR within the profession and also to facilitate the development of relevant educational programmes. Responses were received by occupational therapists from the five continents. Findings revealed a polyphony regarding the conceptualisations of CBR and a perceived goodness of fit between occupational therapy and CBR. However, most respondents reported inadequate university education on CBR. It is suggested that CBR should be considered as part of the professional role of occupational therapists and that the profession should develop rigorous guidelines for its practice. Given the inherently dialectical nature of CBR it is also important to network with disabled people’s organisations and communities involved in CBR.

International Perspectives on Occupation and Participation

Abstract This essay will highlight three important events within our socio-political and professional development; a renewed emphasis on and commitment to occupation as our core belief with WFOT documents; the shared belief in occupation as fundamental to health by the WHO; and one example (CBR) of how occupational therapists are putting the theory and philosophy of occupation into action to improve the lives of individuals and communities.

An explorative study of an emerging practice clinical education programme for occupational therapy students

Background With a changing mode of service delivery in the community, students in the health care field need to equip themselves with better clinical reasoning skills, judgement, and problem solving abilities. Objective This study aimed to determine the essential components for clinical education for students in a health care discipline and to evaluate the learning process of students placed in emerging clinical (EC) education. Methods Eight occupational therapy students were placed in an EC education setting (EC group) in a hospital in mainland China, where no occupational therapy service had been offered previously, while another eight students were placed in the conventional clinical (CC) education (CC group) for a period of 8 weeks. Students and the clinical educator in the EC group had to explore the opportunities for service development and promotion, while students in the CC group had enough support for equipment, space, and utilities. A questionnaire was carefully designed to evaluate and compare the degree of satisfaction between the two groups. Focus group interviews were also arranged to collect information regarding their learning process and attitude towards the education, and address any problems encountered. Results We found that despite the lack of equipment and facilities, students and the clinical educator in the EC group managed to create an environment that could stimulate the learning of students through clinical reasoning, problem solving, and decision making. Conclusion The essential elements of clinical education for students appeared to be the motivation and attitudes of students and the supervision of the clinical educator. The lack of equipment and facilities did not appear to reduce the scope of learning for students.

Implementing the Revised WFOT Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists

There is a requirement from the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) for all schools listed on the approved-schools list to be monitored by their national association every five years. With the revised minimum standards (2002) setup by the WFOT, all national associations are required to review their schools and make sure that they meet the new standards. All schools must meet these standards by 2007 to continue to be listed on the approved-schools list. This article reviews the new standard, which has been revised to incorporate the societal shift toward inclusion, as well as the occupation-based philosophy that is the foundation of occupational therapy. Examples are given in the unique context of Hong Kong. The new standard is less prescriptive than in the past and incorporates local cultural and societal perspectives.

Changing with the times

Listening to the discussions on the third day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on 26 January 2018, I was struck by the dialogue about the need for agile governance in this changing world as ‘the business world reinvents its landscape’, as demographics alter, as inequality increases, as climate change intensifies environmental risk and as technology continues to advance beyond what anyone could imagine even five years ago (2018, www.weforum.org). How can we manage the tension between efficiency for change (quick turn-around of ideas into action) and policy and regulation which should provide the stability on which we base global, national and local decisions? It might be thought that inclusive governance (involving the regulators/policy-makers with the innovators together) takes time. For those who have tried it, as noted in this forum, change could be implemented quickly and it was found the regulations were not as restrictive as had been previously interpreted, and not a great deal had to be changed to incorporate innovation and change factors into policy and regulations. Are we adhering to our traditional ways of practice or changing with the times? What changes should we be considering in this rapidly evolving global landscape? How can we draw in the policy-makers and regulators, or are we already? Occupational therapists have been involved with the concept of inclusiveness over many years. But rather than just thinking about being inclusive in terms of our client groups and community, what about including the facilitating regulators and innovators in the health care arena to co-create together? Bringing the policy-makers and the entrepreneurs together can promote policy that advances together with technology and social change. To a certain degree, we have seen this has been taking place in the World Health Organization (WHO) and in the United Nations. Note the projects mentioned by WFOT President Marilyn Pattison (2018) in her guest editorial and the emphasis on integrating primary health care into WHO policy in the commentary by Sue Dahl Popolizio et al. (2018). As they note, change and development is happening in health and wellness globally and nationally and the role of occupational therapy in rehabilitation and in primary care can be further expanded. This brings us to another, though related topic in our expanding global activities. Data can be very powerful and as I learned from a recent Taylor and Francis editors’ seminar, data should be more accessible, making it available and reusable for third parties. It should be shared more readily. There are now more opportunities for open scholarship to support research and innovation, providing it in a more easily reachable manner. How can occupational therapists take advantage of these opportunities? HowcanIshareit.com (http://www.howcanishareit.com/), for instance, answers some of these questions. This of course happens in conjunction with our traditional methods of publishing, as with the WFOT Bulletin. The ways in which data are shared are changing as technology allows for more electronic media-based and graphic depictions. This worries the academics who are looking for more rigour in the research methods and data being shared. There is talk of how open metrics and data citations need a new approach. This all involves a willingness to share data at stakeholder levels including funders, subject communities, and institutions. But there is also a need for policy about data sharing, data mining, and more rigorous archiving. We are seeing the changing face of publishing, as for instance, our publisher Taylor and Francis (TandF) promotes. There must be an understanding of what is open access and what is limited or licenced access. And there must be awareness that as we open those doors, the costs fall on the author or the funder. TheWFOT Bulletin gives authors the option to publish open access via TandF’s Open Select publishing programme, making it free to access online immediately on publication. Many funders mandate publishing your research open access; you can check open access funder policies and mandates by going to the Instructions for authors at www.tandfonline.com/YOTB. An additional way of sharing is through platforms like scholarly collaboration networks, platforms that allow researchers to develop and maintain professional relationships, as well as to share information and ideas, participate in discussions and embark on collaborations. You can find out more on How can we share it (http://www.howcanishareit.com/). This approach does not preclude publication but might allow for increased collaboration and sharing in other ways. You will also see that you are asked as an author about your sources of funding for research. Why is it important to state your funding source? Though there may be many responses to this question, conflict of interest is an important one. Since organisational bias (and pressures exerted on their researchers) may

Editorial: WFOT World Congress: June 18–21, 2014

Abstract Next month Japan is the place to be. From June 18th–21st Yokohama will be bustling with occupational therapists from all around the globe. As always the WFOT World Congress will be an amazing event presenting an exciting opportunity for each of us to meet old friends, make new ones, share the successes and challenges in our profession, and think about innovations from international perspectives. Take the opportunity to meet and talk to the WFOT Executive Management Team WFOT delegates from around the world – visit us at the WFOT stand in the Exhibition Hall. If you can’t be there then follow us on FaceBook and Twitter. I look forward to meeting many of you in Yokohama, Japan.