An evaluation of a problem‐based learning experience in an occupational therapy curriculum in the UK

Abstract

The objectives of the study was to evaluate an adapted approach to problem-based learning (PBL) on a pre-registration Masters course in Occupational Therapy at the University of East Anglia in the UK. The adaptation, named placement PBL, required students to write and select the material based on their placement experiences, for the cohort's learning. The evaluation purpose was to determine the students' views of the efficacy of placement PBL for facilitating their learning in the final 3 months of their pre-registration education. Placement PBL was evaluated using both questionnaires and focus groups, with two cohorts of students for data collection. Placement PBL was seen to provide current, relevant and complex learning scenarios that help students to move from a theoretical understanding to application of theory in the complexity of actual service situations. The authors conclude that placement PBL has the potential to prepare students for the transition from student to qualified practitioner. Both researchers were also the PBL tutors which may have affected the students' honesty in their feedback. Further research is indicated for ongoing evaluations of the effectiveness of PBL in helping students to become confident occupational therapy clinicians, and comparative studies with other learning approaches.

Enhancing professional identity of first-year occupational therapy students with the community-academia student tutoring program

“…From a methodological point of view, SLE is closely linked to experiential project-based learning (PBL), where active participation in problem-solving related to a personal project is guided by ongoing instructors’ feedback (Condliffe, 2017). PBL is widely incorporated in occupational therapy curricula to develop evaluation, intervention, and clinical reasoning skills (Scaffa and Wooster, 2004; Spalding and Killett, 2010). The focus is on the learning process itself, with students progressing toward their own goals through problem identification, problem-solving, and application to practice (McCaughan, 2015).…”

Predictors of practice placement and academic outcomes in master’s-level pre-registration occupational therapy students

“…All students whose data were retrospectively analysed in this study followed a problem-based learning (PBL) programme; this impact was not measured in terms of practice placement performance and was not the focus of this study. However, it is pertinent to note that the PBL process has been found to enhance teamwork and empathic skills (Nowrouzian and Farewell, 2013; Spalding and Killett, 2010), which may have influenced students’ superior practice placement performance; it may be worth measuring this in a future study.…”

Comparing and measuring the practice-based performance and competence of occupational therapy students between traditional and role emerging placements: a retrospective cohort study

“…This elevated level of achievement could reflect the fact that all students in the study were at MSc level, which is relevant in that many countries have mandated Masters' level training for occupational therapy (Lemez and Jimenez, 2022), however, maturity does not necessarily predict practice placement outcome (Thew & Harkness, 2018). Another feature worth considering is the fact that within this cohort study students were educated utilizing a Problem Based Learning pedagogical curriculum, which has been argued to develop clinical reasoning skills in practice placements (Spalding & Killett, 2010).…”