Date Presented 04/06/19
OT perceives the inclusion of people with disabilities to be mandatory, at large, and specifically in health professions. However, during training of students as OTs, and especially during fieldwork, issues might arise due to disabilities. This qualitative research outlines key issues in supervision of students with disabilities. Findings point to practical recommendations in how supervisors, academia, and field placement can remove obstacles during fieldwork.
Primary Author and Speaker: Ruth Shoham
Contributing Authors: Naomi Schreuer, Dalia Sachs
This presentation demonstrates innovative data concerning fieldwork supervisors' perspectives on the experience and meaning of fieldwork practice of occupational therapy students with disabilities. The purpose of the presentation is to highlight issues concerning the inclusion of Occupational Therapists with disabilities in practice.
BACKGROUND: Worldwide social and legislative revolution have led to an increase in the number of students with disabilities (SWD) in higher education, including in Occupational Therapy (OT). OT programs include both the academic and the demanding experience of practicums, poses additional challenges to SWD (Hadjikakou & Hartas, 2008). However, there is little available research that can assist fieldwork supervisors in shaping an accessible supervision for SWD, including those with invisible disabilities (ID) (Jung et al., 2008). This study aimed to identify supervisors’ experiences, attitudes, challenges, and coping strategies regarding the complex and difficult task of supervising students with ID. The outcome of the study may assist when developing training programs for SWD.
METHOD: Using a qualitative-phenomenological approach, ten experienced OT supervisors were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Supervisors were asked about their experience supervising SWD's during their field work. The researcher recorded and transcribed all personal and group interviews for the purpose of identifying and coding categories, in an ongoing dynamic analysis process.
RESULTS: Content analysis of interviews yielded three central themes: 1) exposure of disability, including the process, the timing and supervisors’ reactions; 2) Accommodations and adjustments made by the participants to facilitate fieldwork training. These included adjusting the extent of their involvement in fieldwork itself, the nature and contents of supervision work, and various requisite tasks. In addition, participants' recommendations for further accommodations; and 3) unresolved dilemmas raised during the supervision such as: Where is the line drawn between a "reasonable" and "unreasonable" accommodation? Similarly, what separates "supervisor" from "therapist", and the grey area between these two roles? Tension between clashing roles and attitudes: supervisors as professionals who believe in inclusion of PWD as OTs and in the general work force, to them serving "gatekeepers" of their profession (OT).
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the complexity of supervising SWD as OT. This role evokes emotional, cognitive, and behavioural dimensions of supervisors’ attitudes towards disabilities. Without adequate knowledge, support, or guidelines, supervisors were found to, at times, conjure ad-hoc solutions that could be satisfying which often frustrated both supervisor and SWD.
IMPLICATIONS TO PRACTICE: Academia and fieldwork supervisors must collaborate in developing meaningful evidence-based programs that effectively enable the inclusion of SWD into the profession, adding ethical and practical values to OT.
As OTs specializes in occupational analysis and adjusting environments for all people with disabilities, these findings could be extrapolated to other health professions in which fieldwork is part of the training and qualification.
References
Hadjikakou, K., & Hartas, D. (2008). Higher education provision for students with disabilities in Cyprus. Higher Education, 55(1), 103-119. doi: 10.1007/s10734-007-9070-8.
Jung, B. Salvatori, P. Tremblay, M. Baptiste, S. & Sinclair, K. (2008) ‘Inclusive Occupational Therapy education: An international perspective’, WFOT Bulletin, 57, pp. 33-41.
