“A Study of the Perceptions of Occupational Therapy Students After Completing Fieldwork Level II Clinical Training in the United States on Supervision Characteristics

The purpose of this study was to analyze occupational therapy student perceptions of supervision characteristics during fieldwork level II experiences in the United States. The fieldwork education system for occupational therapy has experienced a great deal of stress due to economic and educational delivery system changes.

The target population for this study was professional level occupational therapy students from accredited bachelors level and master’s level entry programs within the United States that have completed their fieldwork level II clinical education experiences in 1999. The instrument used included 2 sections of the Student Evaluation of Fieldwork Experience (SEFWE).

The research questions included; are there statistically significant differences in student supervision characteristics when compared by clinical site region and are there statistically significant differences in student supervision characteristics when compared by type of fieldwork setting. The total SEFWE forms collected were 2,447 with 2,022 usable and 425 unusable.

When comparing the differences between AOTA defined regions and the supervision characteristics, the researcher found that the students gave consistently high mean scores for supervision characteristics. Analyzing the student ratings of supervision characteristics between fieldwork types, however reveals all ratings by the students indicate that they experienced each characteristic at least frequently during their clinical experience. So while there are differences these differences may be related to the fieldwork type setting characteristics rather then the clinical supervisors ability to provide quality supervision as defined by the supervision characteristics in this study.