Accommodating Students with Disabilities: Fieldwork Educators' Experiences

Area of Science:

• Occupational therapy education
• Disability studies in healthcare
• Experiential learning

Background:

• Fieldwork is integral to occupational therapy experiential learning.
• Educators face challenges with reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities.
• Students with disabilities report discrimination and inflexible fieldwork environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore Canadian occupational therapy fieldwork educators' experiences accommodating students with disabilities.
• To develop practical recommendations for improving disability-related accommodations in fieldwork settings.

Main Methods:

• Interpretive description qualitative study.
• Interviews conducted with 11 occupational therapy fieldwork educators.
• Data analyzed using a constant comparative approach.

Main Results:

• Educators centered their accommodation strategies around the meta-theme of "Learning."
• Key subthemes included focusing on preparation for professional practice, utilizing occupational therapy skills, and recognizing contextual influences on student learning.
• Educators viewed accommodations as opportunities to enhance student learning outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Fieldwork educators can align accommodations with learning outcomes and leverage their skills for implementation.
• Effective accommodation requires educators to have sufficient time and support.
• Collaboration between educators and students is key to successful fieldwork experiences for all.