1. Building Occupational Therapy students’
emotional resilience and reflective skills
within the classroom
Sarah–Jayne Kennedy, @sarah_jaynek
Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University
Introduction
There is an increased need for newly qualified occupational therapists to be emotionally resilient in the current health and social care climate. The scope of the profession has expanded; occupational therapists are increasingly covering many more aspects of an individual’s care and treating those with complex health and social needs. There are also increased pressures on services due to demand and funding restraints with subsequent increasing caseload expectations.
The Emotional expectations and individual experiences of practice placement are infrequently explored within the classroom. Students can often feel unprepared for the emotive encounters they experience on practice placement. Interestingly, emotional resilience is less researched with occupational therapy students than other professions, such as nursing and social work (Grant and Kinman, 2012, Thomas et al. 2012).
Students write a reflection on an emotionally challenging experience from their first placement before attending class
Students share reflective accounts with peers in facilitated discussion session
Students completed evaluation questionnaire
In the classroom…
Second year BSc occupational therapy students (n=28) reviewed an emotionally challenging experience from their first practice placement, using a reflective model of their choice.
Students in small groups of 8 shared their experiences using the reflective model to guide their discussion during a facilitated ‘reflection share’ session.
Results
* 95% of students found reflecting on an emotionally challenging experience from practice placement helpful.
* 100% of students felt more aware of some of the emotional expectations of placement following the session.
* 95% found discussing their experience using the reflective model to guide them useful and felt more confident to reflect on future experiences.
* 90% of students reported feeling more prepared for some of the emotional expectations of future practice placements following the session.
Students reported they had not previously had a chance to discuss and process experiences in this format before following practice placement.
Emotive themes identified
* Death and dying.
* Involvement in delivering distressing news, e.g. terminal cancer.
* Observing poor practice.
* Dealing with inappropriate or aggressive behaviour from service users.
* Making mistakes whilst learning on practice placement.
* Having the confidence to talk to practice educator about worries and fears during placement.
* Realities of practice and differences with theory taught in university.
It gave me an idea of things I might experience in a particular setting and how to take precautions or ideas on how to deal with situations
The small group was a safe space where we felt comfortable to share our experiences
I feel reassured that my peers had experienced similar situations and feelings
I feel more confident applying a reflective model and knowing how to use each section effectively
Implications…
It is important that the emotional needs of students on practice placement in the current health and social care climate are recognised.
Occupational therapy students can often be put into emotionally challenging situations that they are not prepared for or have little experience of how to deal with.
Emotive experiences should be explored more within the classroom to enable students to learn from each other, develop strategies and build resilience to face similar events in the future.
Using a reflective model to guide discussion in a supportive group environment can be effective at enabling students to develop reflective skills, process key learning experiences and build resilience for the future.
References
Grant, L. and Kinman, G. (2012) Enhancing wellbeing in social work students: Building resilience in the next generation, Social Work Education, 31 (5), pp
Thomas, J and Jack, B.A., Jinks, A.M. (2012) Resilience to care: a systematic review and meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature concerning the experiences of student nurses in adult hospital settings in the UK, Nurse Education Today, 32 (6), pp