Collaborative competence : enhancing OT and OTA student interactions in educational settings
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Literature Review: Occupational therapy (OT) and occupational therapy assistant (OTA) programs across the US fail to adequately address the intraprofessional collaboration competencies that are needed to develop healthy working relationships between practicing OT and OTAs. Because of this, occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) may not have the skills necessary to work on an intraprofessional team. Purpose: The purpose of this Capstone was to develop intraprofessional collaborative learning opportunities embedded within MUOT to address the learning needs of OT and OTA students. Methods: This capstone project was three-fold. First, a mixed methods study was conducted, including a pre- and post-learning experience survey and focus group about OT and OTA students’ perspectives about intraprofessional collaboration skills before and after participation in the intraprofessional experiential learning clinic. Based on the results of the mixed methods study, the final two portions of the study were designed: development of an intraprofessional course and creation of intraprofessional practicum frameworks. Data Analysis: For the first portion of the study, the results of the pre- and post-surveys were coded using SPSS Version 29 and Excel to generate graphs for visual inspection of the data. The focus group conversations were analyzed for codes of emerging themes on the student perspectives for improvement in intraprofessional collaboration skills. Data for the second and third portions of the study was collected based on mentor and faculty satisfaction on the course and practicum frameworks. Results: For the first portion of the study, the student used t-tests to compare groups (i.e., those who participated in the simulation and those who observed the simulation) on the ICCAS categories. In every case (communication, collaboration, roles and responsibilities, family-centered care, conflict management, and team functioning), there was a significant improvement from pre- to post- test scores (p [less than] .001). For the second portion of the study, the student engaged in a discussion with site mentor regarding satisfaction in the intraprofessional practicum frameworks. Overall, they expressed satisfaction with my efforts and that I met there previously expressed expectations. For the final portion of the project, the student developed a survey for faculty to utilize when reviewing the course. The faculty rated their overall satisfaction of the course a 4.5/5. Conclusion: In conclusion, this capstone project demonstrates that all three methods were effective or perceived to be effective when improving intraprofessional collaboration between OT and OTA students. These results suggest that doing something intentional regarding educating students on intraprofessional education is beneficial and reaps improvement in their ability to interact intraprofessionally.
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