Exploring Students' Experiences In Occupational Therapy Education: A Phenomenological Study Of Professional Identity Development
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Qualitative Report
Abstract
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
In Ghana, education in occupational therapy is fraught with inadequate number of same professionals.
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,
included: personal knowing, professional knowing and experiential knowing.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
professional identity, phenomenology, threshold concepts