Professional Reward in the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator Role.

The purpose of this national survey was to explore perceptions of professional reward among occupational therapist (OT) and occupational therapy assistant (OTA) academic fieldwork coordinators (AFWCs). Agreement was found in ranking the value of six role factors: (1) fieldwork data management, (2) fieldwork site management, (3) fieldwork teaching and consultation, (4) departmental and institutional compliance, (5) scholarship and accreditation, and (6) laying groundwork for students in fieldwork. Both levels of AFWC indicated teaching and consultation had the highest value and data management the least.

Exploring the complexity of the academic fieldwork coordinator role.

A nation-wide survey was conducted of occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant academic fieldwork coordinators (AFWCs) to describe demographic characteristics and tasks of the role. From the data, 10 clusters of role tasks of the AFWC are described. AFWCs view the position as a final career goal although the majority of respondents reported 5 years or less experience.

Reliability and validity of the occupational therapy attribute scale.

The Occupational Therapy Attribute Scale (OTAS) was developed as a systematic, valid, and reliable tool for use as a formative and summative assessment of occupational therapy (OT) student professional behavior during level II fieldwork. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the OTAS as a summative assessment for level II fieldwork. Items were created by OT clinical educators during focus groups.