'I left feeling different about myself': What students learn on their first practice placement.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Therapy Education
• Health Professions Education
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• UK occupational therapy programs now include 40 hours of simulated practice education.
• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the exploration of simulated placements.
• Limited evidence exists to guide the development of effective simulated placements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To understand student learning during their initial occupational therapy practice placement.
• To inform the development of authentic simulated occupational therapy placements.

Main Methods:

• Grounded theory methodology was employed.
• Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 15 participants (students and educators).
• Data collection and analysis occurred concurrently.

Main Results:

• Four core categories of learning were identified.
• These categories include learning about oneself, the occupational therapy profession, practices, and service users.
• Learning about oneself, particularly personal development, may be unanticipated by educators.

Conclusions:

• Understanding the identified learning categories can help educators anticipate and target learning within simulated environments.
• This knowledge supports the creation of more authentic and effective simulated practice education for occupational therapy students.