Preliminary assessment of a fieldwork education alternative: the fieldwork centers approach.

OBJECTIVE: In response to an acute shortage of clinical fieldwork placement opportunities, faculty members of the Department of Occupational Therapy at Tel Aviv University in Israel formulated the Fieldwork Centers Approach (FCA) as an alternative approach to fieldwork education. Under the FCA, groups of two to eight students were assigned to one facility. The number of participating supervisors, who shared all supervision activities, ranged from two to six. Supervision approaches included both one-to-one and group supervision. This article presents the results of an evaluation of the FCA by the first group of students who participated in it. METHOD: Twenty-five students were surveyed twice, once after they completed their Level I fieldwork and again after they completed their Level II fieldwork. RESULTS: Upon completion of Level I fieldwork, 26% of the students indicated that they perceived advantages in the FCA; this percentage rose to 74% upon their completion of Level II fieldwork. No significant differences were found between the students' fieldwork level and their preference for the FCA vs. a strictly one-to-one, supervisor-student approach. Of the five learning experiences unique to the FCA, four, which received high ratings, represented specific learning experiences and one, which received low ratings, represented a psychological learning experience. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that the FCA is a promising approach to fieldwork education. Overall, student evaluations made upon completion of Level II fieldwork were more positive than those made upon completion of Level I fieldwork. Additional research is needed to determine the reasons for this shift in students' evaluations.

Pragmatic learning and media courses at New York University.

The responses of students who were exposed to pragmatic and conventional learning models with regard to activities were analyzed and compared for content. Seventeen categories representing the students' thoughts and feelings about crafts emerged from the content analysis. These categories were divided into three content areas: pragmatic concepts, nonpragmatic concepts, and feelings. The 17 concepts were subjected to statistical analysis (i.e., group t tests). As anticipated, exposure to the pragmatic learning model resulted in significant positive changes in pragmatic concepts and feelings and, to a lesser degree, in nonpragmatic concepts. Additionally, exposure to the pragmatic learning model resulted in fewer negative remarks about crafts and their use in therapy. These findings were supported by a case study and may aid educators in designing media education courses.

On the formative stages of the adult screening questionnaire.

This article describes the formative stages of a screening tool for developmentally disabled adults, the Adult Screening Questionnaire (ASQ). ASQ offers occupational therapists a uniform approach for screening clients. Employing the ASQ will result with a client profile that leads to improved capability in screening outcomes for service delivery: prioritizing caseloads, identifying domains of need for comprehensive evaluation, facilitating clinical decision making, and reporting population needs. to administrators. These screcning outcomes contribute to determining the client evaluation and program intervention necessary for the service delivery process. Reported are rationale for the developmentluse of the instrument, previous validity studies, modifications, and pilot study testin for reliability. The Clients Profile will enable the clinicians to establish three priority levels according to clients' needs. In addition, each clients' needs are identified on nine domains of occupational therapy programmatic concern. A summay,of fipdings for five outcomes for service delivery is introduced. imltatlons and plans for further modification and study are discussed.