Fieldwork Education Resources

Welcome, Fieldwork Educators

We appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge, experience, energy, and time to develop our students into confident, evidence-based, entry-level occupational therapists.

We value the collaboration between faculty and fieldwork educators. You are the bridge from academia to community practice.

This site will serve as a resource upon which you can continue to:

  • Identify helpful resources
  • Expand your skills as a fieldwork educator
  • Further develop your fieldwork program

Site Visits

Prospective Fieldwork sites:

  • Identification of interest in becoming a fieldwork site
  • Assess fit of site with academic goals of program and students available to be placed
  • Initiation of the collaborative relationship between the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator and the Directors/Managers/Fieldwork-Student Coordinators and Fieldwork Educators
  • Review of the academic occupational therapy program at 51¸£ÀûÉç

Fieldwork site visit during student rotation: 

  • Review of student progress
  • Collaboration in development of action plans to improve learning opportunities
  • Review of any new standards and/or policies of facility or program

Resources for Your Fieldwork Education Program

Contact 51¸£ÀûÉç Department of Occupational Therapy at ot@ewu.edu for current copy of the Fieldwork Education Manual.

Reference Material

Bolton, T. & Dean, E. (2018). Self-determination theory and professional reasoning in occupational therapy students.: A mixed methods study. Journal Therapy Education, 2(3).

Henderson, W., Coppard, B., & Qi, Y. (2017). Identifying instructional methods for development of clinical reasoning in entry-level occupational therapy education: A mixed methods design. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 1(2).

Mattila, A., Delullis, E.D., Martin, R., & Casile, E. (2021). Investigating student satisfaction and perception in clinical reasoning skills with simulated case-based learning as a level I fieldwork experience. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75(S2), 7512500050–7512500050p1.

Potvin, M.-C.,Coviello, J., Lockhart-Keene, L., Taylor, C., Rothacker, E., & Thomas, M. B. (2020). OT practitioner students’ perspective of clinical reasoning development during level II fieldwork.  American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(4_Supplement_1), 7411505149–7411505149p1.

Rothacker, E., Potvin, M.-C., Coviello, J., Keene, L., Pettigrew, T., Taylor, C., & Thomas, M.-B. (2021). How I developed clinical  reasoning skills during fieldwork: Perspectives of OT assistant students.  American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75(S2), 7512505137–7512505137p1.

Eddy, Z. E., Tickle-Degnen, L., & Evenson, M. E. (2021). Occupational therapy fieldwork educators: Examining professional quality of life. Work (Reading, Mass.), 70(2), 479–491.

Forfa, M., Helfrich, C., & Simon, R. (2022). Perceptions on non-traditional models of fieldwork supervision. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 6(1).

Gibson, S. J., Porter, J., Anderson, A., Bryce, A., Dart, J., Kellow, N., Meiklejohn, S., Volders, E., Young, A., & Palermo, C. (2019). Clinical educators’ skills and qualities in allied health: A systematic review.  Medical Education, 53(5), 432–442.

McNeil, S. D. & O’Brien, J. C. (2013). Teaching effectiveness: Preparing occupational therapy students for clinical practice. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1(3), 3–.

Suman, M., & Provident, I. (2018). Using online professional development to increase self-efficacy in school-based occupational therapy fieldwork educators. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 2(1).

Ozelie, R., Janow, J., Kreutz, C., Mulry, J.K., Penkala, A., Supervision of Occupational Therapy Level II Fieldwork Students: Impact on and Predictors of Clinician Productivity, December, 2014, American Journal of Occupational Therapy, December 2014, Vol. 69. doi: 690126001Op1-6901260010p7.doi:10.5014/ajot.2015.013532

Andonian, L.  (2017). Occupational therapy students’ self-efficacy, experience of supervision, and perception of meaningfulness of Level II fieldwork. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 5(2), 1–12.

Mason, J., Hayden, C. L., & Causey-Upton, R. (2020). Fieldwork educators’ expectations of level II occupational therapy students’ professional and technical skills. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 8(3), 1–16.

Evenson, M. E. (2014). Fieldwork and professional entry. In B. A. B. Schell, G. Gillen, & M. E. Scaffa (Eds.), Willard & Spackman’s occupational therapy (12th ed.) (pp. 974-988). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Brown, T., Williams, B., & Etherington, J. (2016). Emotional intelligence and personality traits as predictors of occupational therapy students’ practice education performance: A cross-sectional study: EI, Personality and Fieldwork Performance. Occupational Therapy International, 23(4), 412–424.

Evenson, M. E., & Hanson, D.J. (2019). Fieldwork, practice education, and professional entry. In B. A. B. Schell & G. Gillen (Eds.,), Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy (13th ed.) (pp. 1078-1095). Wolters Kluwer

Wallingford, M., & Knecht-Sabres, L. J. (2016). OT practitioners’ and OT   perceptions of entry-level competency for occupational therapy practice. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 4(4), 10–.

AOTA membership required to access.

Chapman, L.M., (2016, June) AOTA, Special Interest Section: Education. Transitioning From Clinician to Fieldwork Educator.

Deluliis, E.D. (2013, July 8). Answering questions about level I fieldwork. OT Practice, 18, 8-9.

Edwards, M., Gentry, A., Showalter, M. & Thomas, H. (2015, June) AOTA, Special Interest Section: Education. Occupational-Based Practice as Experienced by Occupational Therapy Students During Level II Fieldwork.

Gupta, J. & Amini, D. (2018). Field students. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(Supplement_2), 7212410020p1–7212410020p3.

Patterson, M., & Levandowski, S. (2022) Commonalities in OT level II field e: A program review.  American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(Supplement_1), 7610500012p1. doi: