FIELDWORK INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY AND PERFORMANCE IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY EDUCATION

The COVID-19 pandemic forced graduate occupational therapy (OT) education programs to shift in person experiences to remote formats. Despite this shift, OT students were still expected to successfully complete their level II fieldwork (FW) experiences in person to graduate. Face-to-face Level I FW experiences are an Accrediting Council of Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) requirement and meant to prepare OT students for their level II FW experiences were forced to shift to remote formats as well. To examine the effects of adult level I FW instruction methodologies on OT student performance during adult level II FW. A correlational quantitative design was used to assess OT student performance in certain skill areas, as well as their overall final score during their level II FW experiences as measured by their FW performance evaluation scores. Data analysis was conducted in three parts. All study variables were presented using descriptive statistics. Second, bivariate tests were used to examine the direct relationships between the independent variable and the dependent variables. Third, a multivariate analysis was used to analyze each dependent variable modeled as a function of the independent variable using regression analysis, while controlling for the effect of the appropriate covariate variable. The results showed no statistically significant difference in OT student level II FW performance in the individual skill areas assessed, or in the overall final scores amongst the two study groups. This study supports the efficacy of using simulation within a graduate OT program to complete their level I fieldwork experiences and prepare them for their level II FW experiences. The findings of this study also challenge the notion that graduate OT students require a face-to-face clinical experience to prepare them for their level II fieldwork experiences fully.