Document Type (Journals)
Original Research
Abstract
Trauma is pervasive worldwide and is associated with poor health outcomes if left unaddressed, however, a gap in practice continues to exist in the implementation of trauma-informed care (TIC). Occupational therapy practitioners will encounter individuals, communities, and populations influenced by trauma, which warrants the need for TIC to improve overall service delivery across the lifespan. However, TIC is currently not systematically integrated into any Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) occupational therapy educational standards. The purpose of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate a TIC application-based workshop for a sample of entry-level occupational therapy doctorate (OTD) students. The program evaluation component utilized pre-and post- survey design with Likert, forced choice, short-answer, and open-ended questions related to the delivery of content from the trauma-informed care workshop. Outcomes were evaluated through descriptive statistics and content analysis examining participants’ perception of change in TIC knowledge, confidence, and competence in application to occupational therapy practice. Overall, participants’ perception of TIC application knowledge, confidence, and competence improved following the workshop. The workshop and its associated program evaluation built on prior work across healthcare disciplines establishing the need for proactive TIC education. The current study supports the need for TIC to be intentionally situated within occupational therapy academia to prepare occupational therapy practitioners to understand and apply TIC across the lifespan and practice settings to improve patient outcomes and experiences.
Biography
Mollie Keyser, OTD is a recent entry-level occupational therapy doctorate graduate at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. She completed her doctoral capstone project on trauma-informed care and is currently working as a full-time occupational therapist at an Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital.
Mary Alicia Barnes, OT, OTD is a capstone coordinator and lecturer at Tufts University. She has published and presented in the areas of child and adolescent mental health, group theory, and fieldwork education.
Declaration of Interest
The authors report no declarations of interests.
Recommended Citation
Keyser, M., & Barnes, M. A. (2024). Fostering Entry Level Practitioner Knowledge, Confidence, and Competence in Trauma-Informed Care Application. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 8 (2). https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2024.080208
Creative Commons License
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