Date Presented 04/12/21
This project describes the experiences of 37 OTD students who lived through the coronavirus pandemic and examines their reflections on how OT theories and models of practice informed their approaches to adapt to the changing context of their lives in order to continue to participate in their everyday occupations, including that of a graduate student. Content analysis was used to examine the perspectives of students' needs, supports, and mechanisms of adaption.
Primary Author and Speaker: Laura Vanpuymbrouck
Contributing Authors: Nicki Abuchon-Endsley
PURPOSE: In the wake of COVID-19 practitioners, educators, and students had to shift to virtual interactions while experiencing significant unknowns and valid fears. This project describes the experiences of 37 occupational therapy doctoral (OTD) students who lived through this international pandemic. Previous research of occupational therapy (OT) students in the aftermath of destructive hurricanes found diminished satisfaction with occupational performance as well as poorer mental health (Pizzi, 2915) with disruption in habits, roles, and routines (Smith, Drefus, & Hersch, 2011). These disasters share the common feature of being isolated to a singular region of the country with a clear beginning and end versus an international experience with many unknowns. There is little to no research on the impact of international pandemics on the health, well-being, and knowledge of graduate students. Therefore, the focus of this study is to understand the perspectives of students’ needs, supports, and mechanisms of adaption as well as how students use personal experiences as part of transformative learning in the process of understanding approaches used clinically in practice.
DESIGN: This study is a retrospective analysis of data collected as part of routine educational experiences of students enrolled in an OTD course on foundational theories of OT. Students were asked to provide a written reflection of how the abrupt and unexpected events of COVID-19 had disabled them from being able to perform the occupations of their lives, and to describe how models of OT explained how they were working to adapt. The qualitative method of content analysis (Hsieh, & Shannon, 2005) was used to identify common themes across narratives, define the essence of these themes, and describe how these fill gaps in knowledge and inform existing understandings of processes of adaption and transformational learning.
METHODS: In phase one of analysis all data was independently analyzed by both members of the researcher team. Key concepts or passages of text, such as emotions, were highlighted as initial categories for coding, and preliminary codes were assigned to this section of text. Researchers followed this process with a consensus meeting to discuss meanings of key concepts, linking code names to the concept, and developed a dictionary of code meanings. In phase two of analysis the researchers returned to the highlighted text using the defined codes. Any text that could not be categorized was given a new code. A second consensus meeting occurred between the researchers grouping codes into primary and secondary themes.
RESULTS: Preliminary findings and implications for occupational therapy practice will be discussed including: themes that students experienced significant upheaval in their daily routines; increased anxiety linked to academic performance; and everyday imbalances; however, identified use of family, peer, and faculty as supports to achieve occupational balance. Over a third of the students' reflections identified using the Occupational Adaption Model in efforts to adapt to living life during an international disaster. Furthermore, students describe recognizing how their experience might inform empathetic connections with future clients.
CONCLUSION: The implications of understanding students' needs, supports, and mechanisms of adaption can be that faculty and university administrators might work to develop intervention strategies to help students manage and regulate their emotions and reactions to disruptions in the future. Additionally, this might also expose how students use personal experiences as part of transformative learning in the process of linking theory to practice and how this might inform future curriculum development.
References
Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277-1288. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305276687
Pizzi, M. A. (2015). Hurricane Sandy, disaster preparedness, and the Recovery Model. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69, 6904250010. http://dx.doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2015.015990
Smith, T. M., Drefus, A., & Hersch, G. (2011). Habits, routines, and roles of graduate students: Effects of Hurricane Ike. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 25(4), 283-297. https://doi.org/10.3109/07380577.2011.600426
