Occupational Therapy Students’ Perspectives of Professionalism: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Background: Professionalism is a dynamic, socially constructed idea, rendering it difficult to comprehend. Though characterized by the demonstration of values and behaviors, its meaning has not been fully explored and remains tacit. To explore how first-and second-year master's of occupational therapy students conceptualize professionalism.

Enhancing Professionalism Among OT Students: The Culture of Professionalism

“…Professionalism is an expectation and essential skill for OT students in today's practice and education arenas. Influenced by culture and context, professionalism is difficult for students to conceptualize and understand (Sullivan & Thiessen, 2015) and challenging for educators to teach and assess (Robinson et al, 2012). Although previous generations often describe students from Generation Y as unprofessional, researchers contend they have the potential to become a positive and influential generation with the proper support from academic programs and fieldwork experiences (Pendergast, 2009).…”

“…Allied health programs often refer to graduates as healthcare professionals; therefore, demonstrating professional behavior is an expectation and considered a professional obligation to society (Mak-van der Vossen, Peerdeman, Kleinveld, & Kusurkar, 2013;Sullivan & Thiessen, 2015;van Mook et al, 2009). Teaching professionalism has become a fundamental part of educational curricula in nursing, pharmacy, medical, dental, veterinary schools, and physical therapy programs (Birden et al, 2013;Fejzic & Barker, 2015;Shepard, 2013Shepard, -2014van Luijk, Gorter, & van Mook, 2010;Youdas, Krause, Hellyer, Rindflesch, & Hollman, 2013).…”

“…A study conducted by OT researchers Robinson, Tanchuk, and Sullivan (2012) found that faculty members from previous generations appeared to comprehend professionalism at a more profound level as they have had more experiences and opportunities to integrate and internalize professionalism, compared to students who tend to rely on concrete concepts and view professionalism as a "trial and error process" (p. 280). Sullivan and Thiessen (2015) expanded on the work of Robinson et al (2012), exploring the perspectives of first-year and second-year OT students. This study found that OT students from younger generations often reported having difficulty understanding and conceptualizing professionalism.…”

“…Similarly, it is difficult to find literature supporting effective and consistent methods that promote and support the development of professional behaviors in OT students. As a result, professionalism has been difficult to teach and assess in OT programs as researchers have found that students are often confused by its complexity and unsure of others' professional expectations (Robinson et al, 2012;Sullivan & Thiessen, 2015). There has been a call within the literature for academic programs to address these key topics.…”

“…their behaviors (Robinson et al, 2012). As a result, many authors have called for academic programs to start explicitly incorporating professionalism into educational curricula (Hills et al, 2012;Robinson et al, 2012;Sullivan & Thiessen, 2015).…”