Oral Presentations – Thursday 20 July 2017

Abstract

Title: A self-reported competency matrix assists students to reflect on and track competencies. Introduction: Competency based assessment within practice education settings is well established in education, business and some health disciplines. Competency based assessment within occupational therapy is emerging. Most discipline specific tools such as the PRECSOT, track competency as a bimodal concept, competent or not, which can be limiting,. Objectives: The objective of this presentation is to describe the development, pilot study and preliminary results of the occupational therapy competency matrix reflection and tracking tool. Methods: The reflection and tracking tool was developed, and introduced to two cohorts of occupational therapy students and dietetic/nutrition students as part of their practice education placements. The first wave of focus groups has been completed in August 2016 with a second wave to be completed by March 2017. Results: Preliminary finding suggest that students found the reflective tool assisted them with identifying and linking placement experiences to the development of specific competencies. The students liked the use of non-numeric reporting as it demonstrated a learning curve and highlighted areas of strength and areas for development. Students did not like a global result for each competency and asked for more instruction on how to use the tool. Conclusion: The pilot study suggests that a competency matrix approach assisted occupational therapy and dietetic/nutrition students to reflect on their professional areas of strengths and identify areas for development. The tools will be modified according to the student’s feedback and be tested in a larger study in the future.