Master’s and Doctoral Occupational Therapy Students’ Perceptions of Research Integration in Their Programs

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Jeffrey Sargent, OTD/S; Ashley Wermers, OTD/S; Lauren Russo, OTD/S; Kristin Valdes, OTD, OT/L, CHT

Abstract

This is a pilot study with the intent of identifying occupational therapy doctorate (OTD) and master’s (MOT) students’ perceptions of research in their coursework. A cross-sectional study was conducted through a survey of OTD and MOT students. The Student Perception of Research Integration Questionnaire (SPRIQ) was emailed to graduate occupational therapy programs in the United States. An unpaired single tailed t-test was used to compare the mean scores between the MOT and OTD student responses for each scale and subscale. Two hundred and twenty-six students filled out the questionnaire. Both the OTD and MOT students had a favorable perception of the integration of research into the curriculum with a mean score of 3.63 (MOT) and 3.85 (OTD) out of five. An independent t-test found there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for two of the subscales for research integration (current research subscale p = .000 and motivation subscale p = .02) and for the beliefs scale (p = .002). Students enrolled in both MOT and OTD programs have a favorable perception of research being integrated into their curriculums. The OTD students have a more favorable perception of the integration of research in their curriculums, with a 0.30 mean difference between all items on the scale.

Comments

The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Recommended Citation

Sargent, J., Wermers, A., Russo, L., & Valdes, K. (2020). Master’s and Doctoral Occupational Therapy Students’ Perceptions of Research Integration in Their Programs. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 8(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1614