ABSTRACT

Objective : The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of occupational therapy educators on the current clinical fieldwork situations which may guide the development of clinical fieldwork curricula.Methods : A close-ended self-reporting questionnaire was developed by the researchers and distributed to 32 occupational therapy educators who were attending National Occupational Therapy Faculty Conference in August 2003. 26 questionnaires were collected after the conference. Descriptive statistics was employed in analyzing data.Results : 43% of respondents reported that they did not have an objective criteria for choosing fieldwork places. 24% responded that they were satisfied with the the fieldwork education. 46% of the respondents felt that there were lack of cooperation between occupational therapy schools and fieldwork places due to indifference of fieldwork supervisors(40%) and lack of efforts and interests of the faculty(18%). 32% of the respondents suggested that the environment of the fieldwork needed to be improved. The response to the question on the areas to be unified was student evaluation form(41%), fieldwork report form(38%), and grading system(17%) in order. 54% of the respondents agreed with the idea that the students should always be called with an appropriate title in a polite way.Conclusion : Based on the result of the survey, it can be inferred that the close and systematic cooperation between occupational therapy schools and fieldwork places is needed to assure the quality of occupational therapy education. And the clinical fieldwork should be incorporated into occupational therapy curricula as a major part. In order to achieve these objectives, it is recommended that a uniform clinical fieldwork guideline be developed by an appropriate authority as soon as possible.