Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2021

Comments

This capstone was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Occupational Therapy Doctorate at Chatham University

Abstract

Professionalism is a fundamental component of occupational therapy. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) has many official documents that reference professionalism including the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics, Standards for Continuing Competence, Standards of Practice for Occupational Therapy, and the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process, 4th ed. There are high professional expectations of occupational therapy students, however, the definition of professional behaviors varies among fieldwork educators, faculty, and occupational therapy students. The literature revealed four themes of professionalism that were consistent across all stakeholders. Online education has increasingly become the norm for many programs and there is strong support for electronic education as a method for professional development for allied-health providers. The purpose of this project was to determine if participation in online learning modules focused on professional behaviors could improve self-efficacy of implementing professionalism while on Level II fieldwork. There were 42 participants of this project, recruited from the second-year Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MSOT) and Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) cohorts at Thomas Jefferson University – Center City. Quantitative and qualitative outcomes were measured using a pre- and post-intervention survey. Following the intervention, participants reported increased self-efficacy of implementing professionalism on Level II fieldwork. Qualitative outcomes identified consistent themes including an increase in participants’ understanding of the need for continuous development and adjustments of professionalism based on the specific fieldwork environment.

Language

English

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