Affiliations: University of Utah, Division of Occupational Therapy, Salt
Lake City, UT, USA | New England Institute of Technology, Occupational
Therapy Department, East Greenwich, RI, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Kari Jeanette Koski, MS, OTR/L,
Assistant Professor, Clinical, Clinical Education Coordinator, University of
Utah, Division of Occupational Therapy, 520 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA.
Tel.: +1 801 585 3133; Fax: +1 801 585 1001; E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate fieldwork
educator behaviors that are valuable from the perspective of Level II
occupational therapy and occupational therapist assistant students and
fieldwork educators. PARTICIPANTS: 85 fieldwork educators and 37 students from Eastern
and Western parts of the United States. METHODS: The 5 competency categories of the Self Assessment Tool for
Fieldwork Educator Competency were used as the basis for developing the survey
items and data was analyzed with non-parametric statistics to check for
differences among groups of respondents. RESULTS: Students and fieldwork educators generally ranked the value
of the behaviors in the survey as the same. There were differences noted
between responses of level II students on first, second, and third placements
regarding supervision behaviors of fieldwork educators. (Chi square=6.59,
p=0.04 and Chi square=7.95, p=0.02). CONCLUSION: The alignment of opinion of students and fieldwork
educators is important in that it reinforces the common goal of academic
programs, students, and fieldwork educators. More research needs to be done in
order to understand the impact of placement order on the rankings of valued
fieldwork educator behaviors.
