No abstract

Educators must determine whether occupational therapy students are adequately prepared for Level II fieldwork once they have successfully completed the didactic portion of their coursework. Although studies have shown that students regard the use of video cameras and simulated patient encounters as useful tools for assessing professional and clinical behaviors, little has been published in the occupational therapy literature regarding the practical application of simulated patients or reflective video analysis. We describe a model for a final Comprehensive Practical Exam that uses both simulated patients and reflective video analysis to assess student preparedness for Level II fieldwork, and we report on student perceptions of these instructional modalities. We provide recommendations for designing, implementing, and evaluating simulated patient experiences in light of existing educational theory.

No abstract

The aim of this exploratory study was to examine how community-dwelling adults with severe mental illness describe themselves as eaters and how these eating identities relate to dietary intake. Twenty participants completed one in-depth qualitative interview and three 24-h dietary recalls. Two distinct groups were identified; self-described healthy eaters (n = 10) and self-described unhealthy eaters (n = 10). Healthy eaters emphasized fruits and vegetables, limiting sweets, three meals a day, overcoming cost concerns, and benefits of healthy eating. Unhealthy eaters emphasized junk foods, fried foods, few fruits and vegetables, cost and household barriers to healthy eating, and concerns about consequences of unhealthy eating. Self-described healthy eaters consumed significantly more vegetables and less kilocalories, carbohydrates, fat, and saturated fat than self-described unhealthy eaters. Understanding how eating identities relate to dietary intake provides important insights for development of more effective approaches to promote healthy eating in this high risk population.

No abstract

Providing occupational therapy (OT) and occupational therapy assistant (OTA) students with collaborative educational experiences can foster an understanding of role delineation and lay the foundation for positive relationships in future work environments. Offering these experiences during the didactic portion of the curriculum can provide a deeper understanding of the OT-OTA relationship and encourage greater intraprofessional collaboration in fieldwork settings and as practitioners. This project was an intraprofessional educational experience between students enrolled in a graduate OT master's degree program and students enrolled in an OTA program. In the first phase students met and socialized with each other, discussed role delineation, completed case studies, and planned group interventions. In the second phase, students led groups at a community based work activity center for adults with intellectual disabilities and spent more time in intraprofessional collaboration as they debriefed and discussed their experience. To assess student understanding and perceptions of the learning experience, a survey was administered to all student participants for the past two years, 2016 and 2017. The majority of the 78 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the preparatory meeting and implementation of groups increased understanding of the OT-OTA role and role delineation; the learning experience promoted a beginning working relationship between the OT-OTA; the learning experience was effective in promoting the application of learned skills/information; and they would recommend this learning experience for future OT-OTA students.

No abstract

No abstract