PROPIEDAD, INSTALACIONES Y EQUIPO

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Background

Six occupational therapy practitioners participated in this study. All of the

participants actively engaged in accepting clinical students from multiple community

colleges and universities. Each indicated the desire to continue in student supervision. Four

occupational therapists (OTs) and two occupational therapy assistants (OTAs) were

interviewed and completed self-assessment and self-reflection documents. All of the

participants were given pseudonyms to protect their identities. In addition, names of clinical

sites and academic institutions have been omitted.

Two of the OTs (Sharon and John) were initially prepared in Master of Occupational

Therapy programs. Both had been in practice as clinicians for 20 years. Both had been

supervising students for 19 years. Both were employed in midsize rehabilitation hospitals in

the Midwest. Both had the additional supervisory duties within their respective departments.

Two of the OTs (Linda and Laura) had been previously educated as OTAs and, after

practicing at the assistant level, chose to go back to school to earn a degree in occupational

therapy. Each of them completed bachelor’s-degree programs in occupational therapy. Laura had 35 years of experience in practice. She worked at a midsize acute-care center in

the Midwest. She also had additional supervisory duties within her department. Linda had

25 years of experience and at the time of this study worked for contract companies in the

long-term-care setting. She also lived and worked in the Midwest. Neither, Linda nor Laura

could remember the exact year they started supervising students, but both stated they had

The final two participants (Karen and Cathy) were educated in community colleges to

be OTAs. They each completed an Associate of Applied Science degree. Karen had been in

practice for 11 years and had been taking students for 10 years. She worked in a large

research hospital in the Midwest. Cathy had been in practice for 6 years and had been taking

students for over 4 years. At the time of this study, she worked in a small rural hospital.

Four of the interviews (Karen, John, Laura, and Cathy) were conducted at the place of

employment of the interviewees. Two of the interviews (Linda and Sharon) were conducted

in the individuals’ homes.

The interviews were conducted developmentally as the participants described their

journey to the role of clinical educator of community college students. Therefore, the themes

were drawn from participant comments related to every stage of that journey.

Phenomenological Analysis

Phenomenology is a descriptive, qualitative study of human experience. The goal is

to conceptualize the processes and structures of an experience, that is, to examine a

meaningfully lived experience through the expressions of those who have lived it (Wertz et

al., 2011). The participants in this study were asked to express their lived experience of

being a clinical educator of community college students.

When using a phenomenological methodology, it is necessary to focus on the lived

experiences of a specific population. Therefore, it was necessary for me to implement two

procedures essential to carrying out this type of research. The practice of epoche or

abstention from prior knowledge about the subject as well as abstention from the natural

attitude was required (Wertz et al., 2011). While there is a large body of literature related to

literature in the area of fieldwork education from the clinician’s perspective, so it was not difficult to abstain from acquiring that knowledge. However, I have personal experience

with fieldwork supervision, so it was necessary for me to bracket that experience prior to

conducting the interviews and while completing my analysis. While conducting this

research, I had to continually go back to the experiences themselves and abstain from adding

to or detracting from the experiences as expressed by the participants through the interviews

and the written documents. Wertz et al. (2011) stated,

The phenomenological attitude is reflective. It selectively turns from the existence of objects to the processes and meanings through which they are subjectively given. Although this attitudinal focus is called a “reduction,” the field of investigation is not narrowed but rather is opened up and expanded to encompass all the complexities and intricacies of psychological life that come into view. (p. 127)

The phenomenological method uses intentional and eidetic analysis. According to

Wertz et al. (2011), intentional analysis is “how experiential processes proceed and what is experienced through them” (p. 128). The clinical educators in this study were asked to

describe how they became clinical educators and how they conducted clinical education. In

addition, they were asked to reflect on and describe clinical education as an experience.

Each participant’s experience was examined as a whole to determine how that clinical educator made meaning of the experience. Then, through the process of eidetic analysis, the

participants’ descriptions were compared and examined for themes that were present in all of their described experiences. According to Wertz et al., “Eidetic analysis does not diminish or simplify its subject matter but opens up and highlights its vast richness and complexity”

(p. 129). The resulting themes from my phenomenological analysis are described in this

Themes and Analysis Interview Analysis

The digitally audio-recorded interviews were initially replayed with key words or

phrases identified. The recordings were then transcribed by a professional transcription

service. The transcription of each participant interview was then studied for meaning as a

whole. Next, line-by-line analysis of the transcripts produced meaning units for each

interview. The meaning units from each interview were then grouped together. A list of

possible themes was generated with similar meaning units from each interview. The

meaning units were initially obtained for each area of clinical educator development, from

student to practitioner to clinical educator. However, as the themes began to materialize, it

became evident that meaning units from each of the developmental stages reemerged in all

areas of the developmental process. Therefore, the themes were identified across the

developmental process. Consequently, participant quotes supporting each theme may have

been identified from practitioner experiences as students or clinical fieldwork educators.

Finally, four key themes emerged: Theme I: Clinical educators are relationship centered and

student focused, Theme II: Clinical educators are devoted to teaching and learning, Theme

III: Clinical educators have a high degree of self-efficacy, and Theme IV: Clinical educators

are strong advocates for the profession.

Theme I: Clinical educators are relationship centered and student focused. This