Effect of Occupational Therapy Clinical Training on SelfEfficacy and Clinical Reasoning of Students

Background & Objective: The ultimate goal of medical universities is clinical efficacy in their students Students evaluation of selfefficacy can be a good guide to predicting their clinical skills Therefore this research was designed to evaluate the effect of occupational therapy clinical training during one semester on selfefficacy and clinical reasoning in students and the relationship between these two factors Methods: This descriptiveanalytical and crosssectional study was conducted on ۴۲ third and fourth year undergraduate students of occupational therapy‎ who were passing the clinical education course The study was conducted in all occupational therapy clinical centers of Jundishapur ‎University of Medical Sciences Ahvaz Iran through census sampling in ۲۰۱۴ The General SelfEfficacy Scale (۱۰ questions) and SelfAssessment of Clinical Reflection and Reasoning (۲۶ questions) were used in this study Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and parametric tests such as paired ttest independent ttest and the Pearson correlation coefficient in SPSS software Results: Results indicated a significant change (from ۲۹۹۷ ± ۳۸۷ in pretest to ۳۱۸۰ ± ۴۰۴ in posttest) in students selfefficacy during one semester (P = ۰۰۰۹) However the increase in mean scores of clinical reasoning and selfreflection at the end of the semester was not significant (P = ۰۴۶۰) There was a weak correlation between the selfefficacy variable and clinical reasoning and selfreflection (P = ۰۰۱۰ r = ۰۳۹) Scores did not show statistically significant differences in either cases and between the two sexes Conclusion: According to the results of this study clinical training program in the field of occupational therapy led to the creation and promotion of selfefficacy in students but does not increase clinical reasoning among them Therefore revision of clinical training of students and improvement of their clinical courses plans seems necessary

Keywords:

Clinical education , Self , Efficacy , Clinical reasoning , Students , Occupational Therapy