Students' Perceptions of OT-Led Coaching in Postsecondary Education

PURPOSE: More students with disabilities than ever are enrolling in post-secondary education (PSE) institutions, however, their poor degree progression, retention, and graduation rates, suggest that they may not be adequately supported by their academic institutions (Keptner, & McCarthy, 2020). The GOALS2 program, an occupational therapy-led coaching program, offered at a PSE has been found, in a pilot study, to be efficacious at supporting students in achieving their self-determined goals. (Boney, Potvin, & Chabot, 2019). However, an analysis of participants' perception of what within the program is beneficial would contribute to our understanding of the social validity of this intervention within PSE. Students with disabilities are the best individuals to provide insight into improving PSE institutions' services for themselves (Francis, Duke, Brigham, & Demetro, 2018). There is emerging evidence for coaching increasing academic success and self-determination in PSE (Getzel & Thoma, 2008). However, the students' perspective has yet to be explored in relation to the benefit of OT-led coaching in PSE, and its social validity.

METHOD: A phenomenological study was conducted with 18 students with disabilities who received the coaching intervention at their PSE institution. Data was collected through individual semi-structured qualitative interviews that were conducted at the end of each academic semester to gain an understanding of students with disabilities' perceptions of the services received. A multi-step, multi-coder, open-coding approach was used by three researchers with Nvivo software to analyze the transcripts of interviews. Inter-rater reliability was established through a thorough multi-step process that involved independent coding, comparison of codes, discrepancy resolution as needed, combining codes, and adding codes or redefining a code. This process was repeated until all the codes and definitions were applied reliably by all coders.

RESULTS: Three major themes emerged from the thematic analysis of the transcripts. The first theme was the academic and personal growth of the GOALS2 program's participants, which students perceived the occupational therapy-led coaching to improve their professional communication, time management, and study habits. The second theme was the value of the open and supportive environment created within the program. Students described this theme as enabling them to feel comfortable in sharing their goals, successes, struggles, and concerns throughout the coaching process. The third theme described participants' perception of success in the program. This theme suggested the program must continue to work to promote participants' confidence in implementing strategies and achieving their goals.

CONCLUSION: Students with disabilities in PSE experience difficulties in degree progression, retention, and graduation rates. PSE institutions are continuing to identify means to support students, an occupational therapy-led coaching program is one approach which may assist students with disabilities for their PSE experiences. The students with disabilities in the PSE institution perceived the occupational therapy-led coaching as beneficial to their academic and personal successes, which supports the GOALS2 program and its coaching intervention's social validity. Understanding the perceptions of students with disabilities on this occupational therapy-led coaching intervention provides insight for this program and other universities who may wish to use this model to support increasing personal and academic success within a PSE context.

References

Boney, J., Potvin, M., & Chabot, M. (2019). The Goals2 program: Expanded supports for students with disabilities in postsecondary education. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 32(3), 321-329. Retrieved from https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped

Francis, G. L., Duke, J., Brigham, F. J., & Demetro, K. (2018). Student perceptions of college-readiness, college services and supports, and family involvement in college: An exploratory study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(10), 3573–3585. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3622-x

Getzel, E. E., & Thoma, C. A. (2008). Experiences of college students with disabilities and the importance of self-determination in higher education settings. Career Development for Exceptional Individuals, 31(2), 77–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885728808317658

Keptner, K. M., & McCarthy, K. (2020). Mapping occupational therapy practice with postsecondary students: A scoping review. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 8(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1617