ABSTRACT

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the fieldwork satisfaction of students majoring in occupational therapy (OT), and to ascertain a change of perception on deciding on a course after fieldwork, and on a desired field and facility. Methods : Structured questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students majoring in OT from June 23rd to December 30th of 2008. The questionnaires of 346 respondents were analyzed through cross- and multi-reply analyses, a marginal homogeneity test, and a Kruskal-Wallis test using SPSS ver. 17.0. Results : In fieldwork satisfaction, highly satisfied items were diversity of therapeutic equipment and tools, regular education, and recognition of the importance of fieldwork. Items appearing to have low satisfaction were an offer of various learning materials and an evaluation of fieldwork. After fieldwork, the students’ratio of desired employment as an occupational therapist increased from 82.7% to 95.6%. The desired fields were in the order of physical dysfunction (adult), children’s health, and mental health. Among the 346 respondents, 113 changed their decision on a desired field, which is statistically meaningful. The awareness of their decisions on employment and desired field changed positively for 57.2% students and negatively for 6.7%. Conclusion : Based on the results of this study, we identified that the awareness of one’s decision on employment and desired field changes through fieldwork.