TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring Students' Experiences in Occupational Therapy Education
T2 - A Phenomenological Study of Professional Identity Development
AU - Ndaa, Peter O.
AU - Wimpenny, Katherine
AU - Khanna, Rebecca
AU - Goodman, Simon
AU - Bello, Ajediran I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021: Peter O. Ndaa, Katherine Wimpenny, Simon Goodman, Rebecca Khanna, Ajediran I. Bello, and Nova Southeastern University.
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - The existing literature on professional identity enactment and development, subscribes to students' socializing in a learning environment, where they regularly encounter practicing professionals throughout their education period. However, in most countries with less resourced occupational therapists like Ghana, education in occupational therapy is fraught with inadequate number of same professionals to mentor undergraduate occupational therapy students. The students are thus faced with serious dilemma regarding their professional identity which tends to elicit a bleak perception of their chosen career. The present study was therefore envisaged to interpret and analyse the students' lived experiences, with the view to capture the process of constructing and developing professional identity. The study focused on purposively sampled group of nine undergraduate occupational therapy students during their practice placement education, and their learning styles on didactic lectures. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was adopted for the study. The students were followed up throughout their four-year study program for data collection, using one-to-one semi-structured interviews each year. With reference to the threshold concepts, transcribed interview data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological procedures. The study established a transformational development of professional identity from the novice stage into graduate professionals, amidst complex interaction of co-constructed themes which included: personal knowing, professional knowing and experiential knowing.
AB - The existing literature on professional identity enactment and development, subscribes to students' socializing in a learning environment, where they regularly encounter practicing professionals throughout their education period. However, in most countries with less resourced occupational therapists like Ghana, education in occupational therapy is fraught with inadequate number of same professionals to mentor undergraduate occupational therapy students. The students are thus faced with serious dilemma regarding their professional identity which tends to elicit a bleak perception of their chosen career. The present study was therefore envisaged to interpret and analyse the students' lived experiences, with the view to capture the process of constructing and developing professional identity. The study focused on purposively sampled group of nine undergraduate occupational therapy students during their practice placement education, and their learning styles on didactic lectures. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was adopted for the study. The students were followed up throughout their four-year study program for data collection, using one-to-one semi-structured interviews each year. With reference to the threshold concepts, transcribed interview data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological procedures. The study established a transformational development of professional identity from the novice stage into graduate professionals, amidst complex interaction of co-constructed themes which included: personal knowing, professional knowing and experiential knowing.
KW - Learning environment
KW - Learning experience
KW - Occupational therapy
KW - Phenomenology
KW - Professional identity
KW - Professional socialization
KW - Threshold concepts
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123397057&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5162
DO - 10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5162
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123397057
SN - 2160-3715
VL - 27
SP - 64
EP - 78
JO - Qualitative Report
JF - Qualitative Report
IS - 1
ER -