Human Trafficking: An Evaluation of Doctoral Occupational Therapy Students’ Awareness, Knowledge, Self-efficacy, and Future Training

Background. Occupational therapy students need to develop self-efficacy for managing the therapeutic relationship in practice. This study examined the 10-month trajectories of Norwegian students’ self-efficacy for use of self. Methods. Eighty-nine students completed self-efficacy questionnaires related to the use of self after a workshop and at 3- and 10-month follow-up. Changes on the three outcome measures (self-efficacy for therapeutic mode use, for recognizing clients’ interpersonal characteristics, and for managing interpersonal events) were analyzed with repeated measures ANOVA. Results. Across the follow-up period, the students improved their self-efficacy for therapeutic mode use (partial η2 = 0.44, p<0.001), for recognizing clients’ interpersonal characteristics (partial η2 = 0.81, p<0.001), and for managing interpersonal events (partial η2=0.32, p<0.001). Conclusion. The increased self-efficacy for use of self that was found at 3-month follow-up was maintained at 10-month follow-up. The results indicate that students may experience a boost in self-efficacy for therapeutic use of self after a brief workshop and that these changes can be sustained over time.

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Short-term changes in occupational therapy students’ self-efficacy for therapeutic use of self

British Journal of Occupational Therapy ◽

10.1177/0308022617745007 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 81 (5) ◽

pp. 276-284 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ratna A Hussain ◽

Tove Carstensen ◽

Farzaneh Yazdani ◽

Brian Ellingham ◽

Tore Bonsaksen

Keyword(s):

Occupational Therapy ◽

Outcome Measures ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Therapeutic Use ◽

Use Of Self ◽

Short Term ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Occupational Therapy Students ◽

Dependent Samples

Introduction Self-efficacy concerned with the therapeutic use of self is important for occupational therapists, and students need to develop the skills and the self-efficacy required to meet interpersonal challenges in practice. This study examined short-term changes in occupational therapy students’ self-efficacy for using therapeutic modes, for recognizing clients’ interpersonal characteristics, and for managing interpersonal events. Factors associated with such changes were also examined. Method A sample of 89 Norwegian occupational therapy students from two universities was used, and the students completed three questionnaires 2–3 weeks after a workshop and at 3 months’ follow-up. Changes on the outcome measures were analyzed with t-tests for dependent samples, and factors associated with the outcome changes were analyzed with linear regression analyses. Results During the follow-up period, the students improved their self-efficacy scores on all three outcome measures. Higher age was associated with more improvement on two of the outcome measures. Conclusion The occupational therapy students improved their self-efficacy for therapeutic use of self during the brief follow-up period. Thus, the time in education, either university-based or practice-based, seems to add to students’ self-efficacy for clinical skills in this area. Higher age appears to be a resource for gaining more self-efficacy from attending educational courses.

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