The Outreach Experiences of Occupational Therapy Students: An Opportunity for Transformation.

Abstract

Importance: Occupational therapy lacks workforce diversity. Academic programs (APs) are uniquely positioned to create learning experiences that align with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts within occupational therapy.

Objective: To examine the acceptability of a student-led outreach program from the perspectives of occupational therapy students.

Design: Qualitative, cross-sectional study that used occupational therapy students' reflections as part of routine educational assessments. Thematic analysis was used to identify and define themes within reflections. Reflexivity and prolonged engagement in the field enhanced trustworthiness.

Setting: Urban, Midwestern OTD program.

Participants: Sixty-eight occupational therapy students enrolled in their second semester.

Intervention: Occupational therapy student-led outreach presentations in middle and high schools in which most students had Black, Indigenous, or People of Color backgrounds. Presentations lasted 45 to 60 min.

Outcomes and measures: After their presentations, occupational therapy students completed an open-ended reflection on their outreach experience of at least 250 words.

Results: Participants were primarily women (n = 63; 92.65%) and White (n = 50; 73.53%). Three themes emerged in the analysis of students' reflections: knowledge translation, opportunity versus assignment, and practical insights.

Conclusions and relevance: Occupational therapy APs are positioned to craft learning opportunities that can meet accreditation requirements, benefit students' professional development, and contribute to DEI efforts. To make these efforts sustainable, occupational therapy APs must cultivate meaningful relationships with local and diverse community partners while also evaluating opportunities to integrate DEI into their own curricula. Additional research is needed to examine the long-term impact of outreach efforts between occupational therapy students and recipients. Plain-Language Summary: Occupational therapy academic programs are uniquely situated to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the profession. Focusing on racial and ethnic diversity, in this study we sought to capture the perspectives of first-year occupational therapy students who participated in a student-led outreach initiative embedded within their curriculum. We found that occupational therapy students benefited from participating in this educational experience because they were challenged to share their knowledge of occupational therapy with middle and high school students from underrepresented communities. Viewing this experience as an opportunity instead of an assignment, occupational therapy students felt that they contributed to DEI efforts while growing as future practitioners. Occupational therapy academic programs can create synergies between student learning objectives and DEI efforts to make transformative change. Positionality Statement: Diversity encompasses several identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and many more. We acknowledge all these aspects of diversity. For the purposes of this article, we focus on the diversity related to race and ethnicity.