CHCS - Perspectives - Summer/Fall 2014

PERSPECTIVES • SUMMER–FALL 2014 29 OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY Fort Lauderdale Several class of 2013 alumni received the Mary J. Bridle First Research Award in November 2013. In order to be consid- ered for the American Occupational Therapy Foundation (AOTF) award, the research must be the first research study in the individual’s OT career, clearly demon- strate the significance to the field of OT, and add to the body of knowledge in oc- cupational therapy. This research project was completed under the mentorship of Ariela Neuman, Ph.D., OTR/L, associate professor, and Jacqueline Reese, Ph.D., OTR/L, CHT, CEAS, assistant professor. Below is a brief summary of the research project written by alumna Klaudia Kulpa, who was one of the primary investigators in the re- search project as well as the president of Pi Theta Epsilon. NSU occupational therapy (OT) students made an observation that other health pro- fessions students at the university had lim- ited knowledge in regards to OT. After conducting a literature review, evidence from past studies indicated there was a lack of interprofessional knowledge among health care professions regarding OT. More specifically, studies reported that practitioners such as nurses, physicians, and physical therapists lack knowledge about the role of an occupational therapist within an interprofessional team. Although, some re- search studies sug- gested that an educational seminar could be beneficial to educate other health care professionals about OT, no research had been conducted to examine such a semi- nar and its effective- ness. As a result, five OT students from the class of 2013 decided to conduct a research study to determine if an educational semi- nar luncheon is in fact an effective method to increase health care students’ level of knowledge about the OT profession. The educational seminar lunch- eons were hosted by the Pi Theta Epsilon Occupational Therapy Honor Society. The study was a pretest/posttest design in which the questionnaires identified spe- cific areas of OT practice that other stu- dents may lack knowledge in such as treatment methods, recipients of OT serv- ices, and work settings. Students from the following health care disciplines were in- vited to attend the educational seminars: audiology, osteopathic medicine, physical therapy, physician assistant, and optome- try. As determined by the pretest/posttest results, health care profession students’ level of knowledge about the OT profes- sion significantly increased after the edu- cational seminars. Additionally, many student participants stated how much they enjoyed the educa- tional session and advised that other health care disciplines should implement similar educational seminars as well. Other students offered suggestions on which topics to elaborate on in future seminars to make them even better. Over- all, the verdict was that the educational seminars were very beneficial. MOT ALUMNI Awarded Mary J. Bridle Research Award By Klaudia Kulpa, OTR/L, and Jacqueline Reese Walter, Ph.D., OTR/L, CHT The class of 2013 recipients of the Mary J. Bridle First Research Award (from left) are Klaudia Kulpa, samantha Kirschner, Harami Rodriguez, sabrina Chang, and Justine Bunville.