Occupational Therapy Students' First Year Fieldwork Experiences: Discovering the Complexity of Culture

Abstract

Although culture is important to the process of occupational therapy, little is known about how culturally-sensitive practice develops. This paper reports findings from the first year of a three year study following a cohort of occupational therapy students. The study was designed to explore students' perceptions of the development of cultural competencies over the course of their programme. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and fieldwork journals. Two themes emerging from the data are discussed here. These relate to definitional issues concerning the concept of culture, and students' own identification within a culturally complex society. A sense of Canadian-ness informed how students defined cultural difference in the clinical setting, while their own reflections on the concept of culture shaped their response to differences. Interpreting client situations in terms of culture was sometimes useful to students, but there was also resistance to the use of culture as an explanation due to the danger of stereotyping. Implications of the study for curriculum development are discussed.