Occupational therapy practice education: A perspective from international students in the UK

Abstract

Background: Numbers of international students enrolling on occupational therapy (OT) courses in Western institutions have increased. Previous examination of these students' experience of practice education is limited.Objective: To explore the opportunities and challenges experienced by international students in OT practice education.Methods: This study adopted a phenomenological approach, recruiting six individuals from three UK universities. Data from semi-structured interviews was given thematic analysis for result interpretation.Results: Participants identified learning OT in the workplace, working in a multidisciplinary team and personal and professional development as practice education opportunities. Language difficulties, differences in communication styles, multiple cultural differences and unfamiliarity with the National Health Service (NHS) were the main challenges. Good practice educators and supportive team members were the main contributors to positive placement experiences.Conclusions: Participants gained knowledge and skills from practice education that existing healthcare literature suggests they are expected to attain. Several challenges were highlighted regarding participation in practice education. The findings reveal a need to enhance practice educators' skills in supervising international students. Universities are recommended to invest time and resources in supporting the learning needs of these students.Significance: This the first study presenting international students views on OT pre-registration practice placements in the UK.

Cultural diversity in health care teams: A systematic integrative review and research agenda

“…The articles reviewed model their inquiry in three distinct ways. The first is additive , exploring cultural diversity as an input in terms of a direct effect on patient-related, team-related, organizational, or individual outcomes (e.g., Dreachslin et al, 1999; Law et al, 2022). Fourteen studies adopt this type of modeling, of which 11 rely on this model alone, one uses this model in combination with others, and two use this model to explore cultural diversity as output rather than input.…”

“…Studies using this model of inquiry explore team processes or team outcomes as output. These studies indicate that, if left unchecked, cultural diversity has negative consequences for teams, such as a decrease in team communication quality (Clayton et al, 2016; Law et al, 2022), an increase in team conflicts (Arieli, 2013; Keshet et al, 2018; Kumra et al, 2020) and team stereotyping (Hai-ping et al, 2020), a decrease in quality teamwork (Morrow et al, 2013), reduced team cultural understanding (Law et al, 2022), team commitment (Kumra et al, 2020), team performance (Kumra et al, 2020; Nkiruka Okafor et al, 2020), and decreasing team working climate (Clayton et al, 2016). Only a limited number of studies find positive consequences of cultural diversity in health care teams, such as improved virtual collaboration among team members (Alhawary, 2012), team opinion diversity and complexity of reasoning (Archibald et al, 2021), and the ability to engage with culturally diverse patients (Leggett, 2012).…”

Understanding and optimising support resources to facilitate CALD student and supervisor allied health fieldwork experiences

“…Notwithstanding the considerable body of literature describing and problematising the challenges faced by CALD students, the resources, mechanisms, and processes used (and needed) to address them are under-researched [ 4 , 8 , 10 , 16 – 18 , 22 , 25 ]. In particular, Vu et al [ 10 ] noted the need for research examining the resources used by CALD students in addressing the challenges they face, while Law et al [ 8 ] have highlighted the need for research on how to better tailor support services (resources) to meet the needs of, and challenges faced by, this student group. Similarly, while there is considerable depth to the research examining the challenges faced by FWSs [ 3 , 18 , 22 ], less is known about the support resources and mechanisms needed to address these challenges [ 18 , 22 ].…”

“…Notwithstanding the reported benefits from fieldwork placements [1][2][3], they can present unique challenges for students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds [4,5]. Examples of identified challenges include communicating in a second language, not fully understanding accents or verbal expressions, and difficulties in preparing placement documentation [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Research also suggests CALD students can experience difficulties in adjusting to the professional practice environment, particularly in relation to the cultural norms of their patients, the routines and behavioural norms of their host organisation, and the health system in which it is embedded [8,[12][13][14].…”

Placement educators’ perspectives of international social work students’ sociopragmatic communication skills

“…However, a number of these international students report experiencing communication issues, especially while completing health professions work-integrated learning (WIL) placements in Anglophone countries (e.g. Law et al, 2022 ; Eden et al, 2021 ). To address this issue, accreditation and registration bodies for a number of health professions have advocated for increasing university English language entry test score requirements (e.g.…”