Professionalism and occupational therapy: An exploration of faculty and students’ perspectives

Abstract

Background. Professionalism is a complex, multifaceted concept embedded within the curricula of occupational therapy programs and professional documents; yet there is no clear explanation in the literature. Purpose. To explore occupational therapy faculty and students’ perspectives of the meaning of professionalism. Methods This interpretivist qualitative study used convenience sampling to recruit eight second-year occupational therapy master's students and five occupational therapy faculty members to participate in two separate focus groups. Open-coding and constant comparative methods were used to identify themes. Findings. Data analysis yielded the following student focus group themes: uncertainty about professional expectations; searching for answers through concrete concepts; and the context-specific nature of professionalism. Faculty focus group themes were professional responsibility; professional awareness; and the context-specific nature of professionalism. Understanding and enacting professionalism may be a developmental process. Implications. Further exploration of the meaning of professionalism from a variety of other occupational therapy stakeholders is needed.