Professional Belonging Scale for Occupational Therapy Students: Development and Preliminary Validity and Internal...

Area of Science:

• Occupational therapy education
• Psychometric assessment
• Student belonging

Background:

• Belonging is crucial for occupational therapy students' academic success and career transitions.
• Existing higher education belonging measures are not specific to occupational therapy education.
• A validated tool is needed to assess belonging in this specific academic context.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop the Professional Belonging Scale for Occupational Therapy Students (PBSOTS).
• To assess the validity and internal consistency reliability of the PBSOTS.
• To provide a tool for measuring belonging among occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant students.

Main Methods:

• Scale development involved literature review, expert interviews, and a student focus group.
• Item refinement utilized content validity index ratings and expert feedback.
• Psychometric analysis included exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency reliability testing on data from 162 students.

Main Results:

• The final 20-item Professional Belonging Scale for Occupational Therapy Students (PBSOTS) demonstrated strong internal consistency (α = .92).
• Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors explaining 61.13% of the variance.
• Preliminary validity and reliability were established through rigorous testing.

Conclusions:

• The PBSOTS is a promising tool for measuring belonging in occupational therapy education, based on preliminary findings.
• Further research and development are recommended to refine and validate the PBSOTS.
• The scale can inform occupational therapy programs about students' sense of belonging to improve educational experiences.