Effects of level II fieldwork on clinical reasoning in occupational therapy

Objective. Fieldwork has been described as an educational method that enhances clinical reasoning skills. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Level II fieldwork on the development of clinical reasoning skills of undergraduate occupational therapy students. Method. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was used with a convenience sample of 48 undergraduate seniors. All students participated in two 12-week, full-time rotations of Level II fieldwork. The Self-Assessment of Clinical Reflection and Reasoning (SACRR) developed by Royeen, Mu, Barrett and Luebben (2000) was administered the week before the students left for fieldwork and the first day after they returned from fieldwork. Results. Paired t-tests revealed statistically significant differences in pretest and posttest scores for 13 of 26 items on the SACRR. In addition, the overall total score increased from 102.55 to 108.41 (p < .01). Conclusion. The results suggest 24 weeks of full-time fieldwork experience, in the senior year of an undergraduate occupational therapy curriculum, can significantly facilitate the development of students' clinical reasoning skills.