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Document Type (Journals)

Original Research

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a multi-method approach for ethics education. The investigators measured occupational therapy (OT) students’ self-efficacy for ethical decision-making and explored their perception of what contributed to their confidence in understanding the American Occupational Therapy Association’s (AOTA) 2020 Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics. This one-group mixed methods study included twenty Master of OT students. Self-efficacy was measured via a pre-test and post-test using an adapted version of the New General Self-Efficacy Scale, and open-ended questions captured data regarding student perceptions of what contributed to their confidence. Students presented with high levels of self-efficacy after completing a multi-method approach for ethics education. The results of the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test approached statistical significance. Qualitative data analysis revealed two categories: factors that increased confidence and factors that decreased confidence. This study provides foundational evidence that multi-method education on ethics including a standardized simulation, reflection and an ethics assignment enhances OT students’ self-efficacy for ethical decision-making and contributes to their confidence in understanding the OT Code of Ethics.

Biography

Brittany Nash, DPT, OTR/L is an Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, at Florida A&M University. Her areas of interest are orthopedics, hands and student learning/success.

Jeffery Etheridge, Ed.D., OTR/L is an Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, at Florida A&M University. His primary area of clinical practice was mental health in a variety of intervention settings.

Sierra Sosa, OTR/L is an Occupational Therapist.

Verenice Macias, OTR/L is an Occupational Therapist.

Araya Bradley, OT is an Occupational Therapist and recent graduate from Florida A&M University.

Kayla Osowski, OTS is an Occupational Therapy student at Florida A&M University.

Natalie Cornwell, OTS is an Occupational Therapy student at Florida A&M University.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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