ABSTRACT

Objective : The objective of this paper is to determine if a community-based stroke occupational therapy program is effective in improving the clients’ functionality and quality of life, and to provide the basic materials of a community-based fieldwork education program by analyzing the degree of student satisfaction with the fieldwork education.Method : The subjects consisted of clients who participated in a stroke occupational therapy program and students from the department of occupational therapy who took part in operating the program.1) The clients had an initial evaluation, 10-week intervention, and two re-evaluations from April to November, 2006. The number of clients who were studied was 26.2) The students participated in an evaluation, intervention planning, implementing the program, and a re-evaluation, and their satisfaction with the fieldwork education connected to their school subject was measured using 50 of the students who responded to the survey. A Wilcoxon matched-paired sign-ranks test was used to prove the difference between the clients' before and after variables, and descriptive statistics were employed to measure the students' satisfaction.Result :1) There was improvement in client functionality overall, and particularly significant results were in balance ability, pain, and pressure (p<.05). Quality of life improved on the whole, and general health showed a significant difference (p<.05).2) The mean of student satisfaction with the operation of the field education was 4.32 out of 5, which was high, and that of satisfaction with a better understanding of the role of an occupational therapist was 4.46±0.61 (M±SD), which was the highest.Conclusion : The community-based stroke occupational therapy program was effective in improving client functionality and quality of life, and the students were highly satisfied with the managing of the field education. Therefore, a contribution to the community through developing and operating various community-based stroke occupational therapy programs and high-quality field education where students can have enough experience and confidence to help them conduct their roles as occupational therapists after graduation is required.