A fieldwork model for non-traditional community practice

Basic Grade Occupational Therapists: A Descriptive Evaluation of a Community Rotation Scheme

Difficulties in recruiting staff to National Health Service (NHS) facilities have been noted in the literature and, among occupational therapists, this problem is particularly acute in urban areas. One inner-city NHS trust responded to this difficulty by establishing a rotation scheme that allowed basic grade occupational therapists to gain experience in a range of community-based posts. There appear to be few precedents for such a scheme and the experience of newly qualified staff in non-traditional settings is rarely documented in the literature.

The present study sought to evaluate the basic grade community rotation scheme in terms of the postholders' perceptions. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered which elicited their views on role clarity, multidisciplinary working practices, access to professional support, levels of occupational stress and job satisfaction. The findings indicate a number of benefits from the community rotation scheme, such as the development of autonomous practice and the varied nature of the work. Disadvantages were also evident, such as a lack of role clarity and the tendency for generic working practices to emerge within multidisciplinary teams. The findings are considered in relation to the literature and the implications for further investigation are discussed. It is concluded that further work is needed in this area to facilitate the recruitment and retention of current and future practitioners.

Classification of fieldwork experiences for the new millennium

Occupational therapists are seeking opportunities in new practice arenas due to health care changes, identification of occupation-based needs in the community and a renewed dedication to occupation-centered care. It is imperative that the profession continue to meet the demands of a changing work environment by adequately preparing occupational therapy students. Innovative activities in a variety of settings are increasingly used by educational programs to provide fieldwork experiences for students. Descriptions and definitions of these new types of experiences will provide a format for consistent terminology and further enhance optimal involvement in newer arenas.

An Evaluation of a Role-Emerging Practice Placement Model for a Full Cohort of Occupational Therapy Students

It is accepted that practice placements are instrumental in providing an invaluable education on professional concepts, attitudes and behaviours. However, despite suggestions that practice placement education needs to be modernised to meet the demands of the current climate, there is only evidence of a limited number of role-emerging placements within the United Kingdom despite their relative popularity and history abroad. This paper describes and briefly evaluates a ‘model’ of practice placement education within role-emerging settings for a full cohort of pre-registration occupational therapy students, which meets national and international standards and guidance for such programmes.

Visual motor skills in homeless children

OBJECTIVE

Identify the visual motor, visual perceptual and motor coordination skills of homeless pre-school and school-aged children living in an emergency shelter for homeless families.

METHOD

All three subtests of the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration-4th Edition, Revised (VMI) were administered to 33 children living in a family homeless shelter.

RESULTS

Homeless children did not display significant deficits in visual motor, visual perceptual or motor coordination skills. However, participants performed significantly better on the motor coordination subtest than on the visual motor and visual perceptual subtests.

CONCLUSIONS

Previous literature had identified visual motor deficits in pre-school homeless children. This finding was not supported in this investigation. The significant difference in performance on the various subtests suggests that these children may benefit from external structure for paper/pencil tasks. Implications for occupational therapy services are made with suggestions for further investigations.

Group co-leadership by occupational therapy students in community centers: learning transitional roles

SUMMARY The experience of contact with community populations and settings at the beginning of fieldwork is essential in expanding the dimensions of non-traditional skills and roles for occupational therapy students. This article describes an initial fieldwork experience which builds on an occupational therapy group process course to enable students to supplement a community-based program with activities designed to meet a need of their group at the appropriate level of group interaction. Pairs of students select a receptive community site prior to the beginning of fieldwork to open dialog with the center's coordinator regarding performance areas, components, or contexts needed by the group. Working to assess the current programmatic offerings and desires of the participants for new activities and planning activities in collaboration with local staff, the students propose to conduct a series of five sessions addressing a theme desired or needed by the group. Upon immersion in the site's program, students are able to provide an in-depth assessment of the community group's psychosocial skill needs using the Group Level of Function Profile (Donohue, 2000).