Magister Scientiae (Occupational Therapy) - MSc(OT) / Fieldwork is seen to be an essential component in the curriculum of an
undergraduate occupational therapy (OT) program through which students
develop their professional behavior and apply theoretical education to clinical
practice. Students in their final year of the undergraduate OT program at the
University of the Western Cape (UWC) use the UWC Community Process as a
guide to community fieldwork in community settings. This process follows a
community development approach to allow students to focus on the needs of the
community. The community fieldwork placement is compulsory for all final year
OT students. The main aims of the placement are for students to develop their
understanding of the role of an occupational therapist in a community setting and
to enhance their understanding of the occupational nature of communities. This
study focuses on final year UWC OT students' experiences of the supervision
they received while following the steps of the Community Process as well as their
perceptions of the relationship between their supervision and their learning about
occupation based community practice. The aim of the study was to explore how
the 2009 final year OT students experienced fieldwork supervision during their
community fieldwork placement. The study followed an interpretivist paradigm with a qualitative research methodological approach and a phenomenological
design. Purposeful sampling was used to select participants from the UWC OT
department who undertook their community fieldwork placement in 2009. All the
data utilized in this study was directly linked to the students' experiences of
supervision during their learning of the Community Process. Therefore, the
methods of data collection that were used included the students' daily reflective
journals, their portfolio files and an evaluative focus group held at the end of the
year 2009. All data was critically analyzed through a process of thematic analysis
in order to meet the research objectives. The techniques of triangulation and a
detailed description of the research process were employed to ensure
trustworthiness of the study. The ethical principles of autonomy, nonmaleficence,
beneficence as well as informed written consent were adhered to in the study. The
findings of the study highlighted the emotions that the students experienced, the
development of their professional judgement and the challenges and experiences
they encountered in their personal and professional development. The findings
further showed that the process of becoming a part of the community allowed the
students to define their role as an OT in a community setting and to increase their
understanding of community development in the context of their role within the
community. The findings also emphasized the students' experiences with regards
to various teaching and learning techniques and approaches used within the
supervision of their community fieldwork placement. The significance of this
study lies in its contribution to the generation of an understanding of how
supervision influences students' understanding of occupation-based community
practice in occupational therapy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:etd.uwc.ac.za:11394/5210 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Vermeulen, Nicola |
| Contributors | De Jongh, Jo-Celene, Hess – April, Lucia |
| Publisher | University of the Western Cape |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of the Western Cape |
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