Date of Award

4-2024

Degree Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)

Department

Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Holly Grieves

Abstract

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, community partners and fieldwork educators have been overwhelmed by the demand of occupational therapy (OT) students seeking fieldwork placements. The faculty-facilitated model is a desirable option to relieve this burden and provide services for the community. Faculty-facilitated sites have a 1:6 fieldwork educator- to-student ratio. These sites can occur on-campus, within a community organization, or virtually as demonstrated by Western Michigan University (WMU). However, barriers to implementing this model include financial concerns, time constraints, space limitations, and the associated workload required to sustain these sites.

The focus of this doctoral capstone experience was to create a how-to guide to aid OT programs in managing the start-up and maintenance of Level I faculty-facilitated fieldwork sites. Learning activities to support this experience included a literature review, needs assessment, and interviews with WMU faculty, fieldwork educators, and students. These objectives resulted in detailed recommendations and the compilation of several supportive documents for OT programs interested in implementing the faculty-facilitated model. The purpose of this capstone project paper is to document this experience that contributed to the final product, A How-To Guide for Implementing Level I Faculty- Facilitated Fieldwork Sites: A Western Michigan University Model

Download

Share

COinS