A Scholarly Exploration of Teaching Strategies for Learning About Pediatric Sleep

Document Type (Journals)

Original Research

Abstract

The occupation of sleep is an area of occupational therapy practice for which many practitioners report a lack of confidence and/or knowledge to properly address. The current study addresses this concern by studying the effects of a learning module on students’ confidence and knowledge to address pediatric sleep. The study used a pre-test, post-test non-experimental design and collected survey responses from 48 entry-level occupational therapy students in three different programs. The lecture portion of the module included content about both assessing and intervening, while the case study emphasized intervention-planning only. Results indicated significant gains in knowledge overall (z = 5.85, p <.001, r = .84), but most of these gains appeared to come from content that was taught via the case study. Changes in student confidence to assess and intervene were significant at post-test. Confidence for intervention-planning was positively correlated with knowledge for intervening; a similar effect was not observed for the confidence and knowledge to assess pediatric sleep problems.

Biography

Laura Carpenter, PhD, OTR/L is Department Chair & Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at Tennessee State University. She earned an A.S. in Occupational Therapy Assistant and B.S. in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern Indiana; M.S. in Educational Psychology and a Ph.D. in Developmental and Learning Sciences from Indiana University.

Amanda M. Buono, OTD, OTR/L, BCP, CCAP is an Assistant Professor at Brenau University's School of Occupational Therapy and member of the Sleepy OT: International Sleep Research Collaborative. She has published multiple chapters on sleep in leading OT texts and conducts research on sleep as occupation across the lifespan. Her work has been presented at AOTA, WFOT, and conferences throughout the Southeast.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Recommended Citation

Carpenter, L. J., & Buono, A. M. (2026). A Scholarly Exploration of Teaching Strategies for Learning About Pediatric Sleep. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 10 (2). Retrieved from https://encompass.eku.edu/jote/vol10/iss2/5