Benefits and challenges of supervising occupational therapy fieldwork students: Supervisors’ perspectives

Abstract

Background/aim: Increased enrolments in occupational therapy education programs, together with changes in the employment patterns of practising occupational therapists, have resulted in a crisis in fieldwork education in Australia.This study aimed to investigate fieldwork supervisors' perspectives regarding the benefits and challenges of providing fieldwork placements, explore the potential link between providing student placements and later workforce recruitment, and document currently employed models of fieldwork supervision. Methods: Participants included past, present and potential future fieldwork supervisors, sourced from fieldwork coordinators' databases at The University of Queensland and James Cook University. Using an online, purpose-designed questionnaire, descriptive data (frequencies and percentages) were gathered from forced-choice questions. For open-ended questions, content analysis was conducted to identify categories and themes. Results: One hundred and thirty-two surveys were completed. Benefits of fieldwork placements related to opportunities for later recruitment of fieldwork students, students conducting projects and developing resources, a sense of contributing to the occupational therapy profession, and the development of employee skills. Challenges related to staffing issues, lack of physical resources and prohibitive workload pressures. Multiple models of supervision were employed in supervisors' workplaces, and almost all participants responsible for workplace employment had employed fieldwork students they had previously supervised. Conclusions:The results demonstrate a strong link between supervision and later recruitment of fieldwork students, suggesting that supervision of students is of considerable advantage to the host organisations in the recruitment of appropriately prepared employees. The study also demonstrates additional benefits to be promoted to supervisors and organisations to encourage and support fieldwork placements.

Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Educator Practices and Preferences in Clinical Education

“…Therefore, identifying that all of our interview respondents had previous experience with other student-educator configurations is unsurprising. Likewise, our findings were consistent with previous literature, as roughly two-thirds of all fieldwork supervision was one-to-one (Thomas et al, 2007). Of interest is that the remaining onethird consisted of more than one therapist sharing the responsibility for the student.…”

“…Bassett and Lloyd (2001) asserted that lack of resources and high caseloads lead to time constraints and greater stress for fieldwork supervisors. Moreover, the majority (n =103) of the fieldwork educators also indicated that time constraints made supervising fieldwork students either moderately or very challenging (Thomas et al, 2007). Three interviewees indicated that time is perpetually at a premium, and the additional commitment of time to supervising an occupational therapy student's fieldwork experience is often a barrier to maintaining optimal performance both as an educator to the occupational therapy student and as a practitioner for existing patients.…”

“…Congruence between fieldwork educators and academic standards, if not by design, indicates a need to ensure continued education and communication between the academic entity and fieldwork educators to ensure required experiences continue to coalesce. In fact, Thomas et al (2007) suggested that the benefits to taking on fieldwork students is that it assists in validating the merits of occupational therapy to the university and community, thus assisting with one of the profession's desired outcomes. In addition, supervising fieldwork students was cited as a means by which fieldwork educators maintain current skills (Thomas et al, 2007).…”

“…In fact, Thomas et al (2007) suggested that the benefits to taking on fieldwork students is that it assists in validating the merits of occupational therapy to the university and community, thus assisting with one of the profession's desired outcomes. In addition, supervising fieldwork students was cited as a means by which fieldwork educators maintain current skills (Thomas et al, 2007).…”

Ethics and clinical education

“…While much has been reported in the literature on the clinical education process 6 , the clinical educator's role and responsibilities 7 , clinical educator's preparedness 4,5,8 , and the benefits and challenges of clinical education 9,10 , very little has been published about the ethical responsibilities and issues associated with clinical education in occupational therapy. In the context of this paper the term 'clinical education' has been favoured over the term 'clinical supervision' as literature suggests the clinical or professional supervision is a process of professional development appropriate to qualified professionals while clinical education is the process of learning that applies to students as they gain clinical competencies from clinical experience [11][12][13] .…”