Best Practices for Supporting Occupational Therapy Students With Disabilities During Clinical Education: Results From a Three‐Round Delphi Study.
Introduction: Disabled occupational therapy students face systemic barriers in clinical education. Although legal mandates require reasonable accommodations, implementation is often inconsistent, and few standardized guidelines exist for fieldwork education. This study is aimed at establishing best...
| Publicado en: | Occupational Therapy International Vol. 2026; pp. 1 - 23 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | glossary research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
9/1/2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=196692508&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 196692508 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 09667903 GPF jtl: Occupational Therapy International issn: 09667903 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: 9/1/2026 vid: 2026 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 196692508 196692508 196692508 10.1155/oti/6675487 196692508 ppf: 1 ppct: 22 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Best Practices for Supporting Occupational Therapy Students With Disabilities During Clinical Education: Results From a Three‐Round Delphi Study. aug: au: Gohean, Courtney McLaughlin, Katie Harrison, Aster Kaushik, Shashank affil: Thomas Jefferson University,, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,, USA, jefferson.edu sug: subj: Students, Occupational Therapy Psychosocial Factors Students with Disabilities Psychosocial Factors Fieldwork Education, Occupational Therapy Support, Psychosocial School Accommodation Professional Practice Evaluation Human Male Female Purposive Sample Occupational Therapy Funding Source Occupational Therapy Assistants Delphi Technique Occupational Therapists Health Professionals with Disabilities Administrative Personnel Research Personnel Content Analysis Thematic Analysis Pilot Studies Summated Rating Scaling Consensus Communication Collaboration Architectural Accessibility Disability Discrimination Prevention and Control United States Qualitative Studies Checklists Student Experiences Student Assistance Programs Male Female ab: Introduction: Disabled occupational therapy students face systemic barriers in clinical education. Although legal mandates require reasonable accommodations, implementation is often inconsistent, and few standardized guidelines exist for fieldwork education. This study is aimed at establishing best practices for supporting occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant students with disabilities during fieldwork. Materials and Methods: A three‐round Delphi study was conducted with a panel of 30 experts, including disabled occupational therapy students, disabled occupational therapy practitioners, academic fieldwork coordinators (AFWCs), fieldwork educators (FWEs), disability services staff, and researchers. In Round 1, participants answered open‐ended questions about challenges, accommodations, and environmental supports. Responses were analyzed using conventional content analysis. In Rounds 2 and 3, participants rated the importance and feasibility of proposed practices using a 7‐point Likert scale. Practices with a median importance score of ≥ 6 and an interquartile range (IQR) < 2 were considered to have reached consensus. Results: Forty‐one best practices and 12 suggested available accommodations reached consensus for importance. The best practices were organized into six thematic categories: (1) facilitating communication, collaboration, and transparency; (2) advance planning; (3) normalizing and affirming accommodations; (4) education of key stakeholders; (5) individualized and flexible approaches; and (6) addressing structural barriers and institutional ableism. Discussion: Findings highlight the need for structured, inclusive approaches to disability accommodations in occupational therapy clinical education. Key recommendations include proactive communication, early planning, stakeholder education, and flexible implementation of supports. Many best practices emphasize cultural shifts towards disability affirmation, universal design for learning, and structural change—rather than relying solely on individualized accommodations. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: glossary research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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