Assessing occupational therapy students' clinical competence for entry-level work-related practice

The purpose of occupational therapy (OT) educational programs is to graduate effective clinicians who join the job market with competencies consistent with the expected entry-level practice. To attain an effective process of clinical competence development, OT educational programs design competence-based curricula to instill pre-licensure readiness in their graduating students for entry-level work-related practice.

The purpose of the study was to perform a retrospective outcome competence assessment for evaluating OT students participating in the first three consecutive offerings of a graduate seminar intended to assess and increase pre-licensure skills and knowledge required for entry-level evidence-based work-related practice. The assessment examined differences in post vs. pre-seminar National Board Certificate Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) practice test score caused by (a) main time of test-taking effect; (b) main class effect; and (c) tine and class interaction effect.

62 students.

A total of 62 students who graduated from the program during the three academic years 2008, 2009 and 2010 participated in the study.

Post vs. pre-seminar NBCOT practice test score was significantly higher across the three-year period and increased significantly in each of the three classes. Interaction effect did not alter the pattern of post vs. pre-seminar score increase in each class.

The significant time and class main effects validated the effectiveness of the seminars in increasing post vs. pre-seminar practice test score in each of the three classes. The significant time x class interaction effect validated the pattern of post vs. pre-seminar score increase regardless of the class sequence.