Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Guindon Hall, Room 3059, 451 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada.
School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Occupational Therapy Program, University of Ottawa, Guindon Hall, 451 Smyth Road, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada.
Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2023 Dec;28(5):1615-1632. doi: 10.1007/s10459-023-10226-x. Epub 2023 May 24.
The Occupational Therapy Program at this Canadian university is a French program however, students must be bilingual to function in English or French clinical fieldwork settings. An understanding of the role of language in successful completion of program requirements was needed to effectively support students' education. The study objectives were to identify the role of linguistic factors in students' academic and clinical performance and to provide recommendations for strategies to address areas of learning difficulty. A multimethod approach used 4 data sources: (1) Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) informal language assessment scores, (2) grade point average (GPA), (3) fieldwork evaluation reports, and (4) an online survey of program graduates. The GPA on admission and MMI scores of 140 students predicted respectively only 20% and 2% of the variation in GPA on program completion. The areas of poorest performance in failed clinical fieldwork reports were in clinical reasoning and communication competencies. Among survey respondents (n = 47), 44.5% reported that a clinical placement in their second language with related charting (51.6%) and client communication (40.9%) were the most significant difficulties encountered in the program. Clients with mental health issues (45.4%) were the most challenging population to work with, attributed to communication barriers in the students' second language. Strategies are proposed to support occupational therapy students' academic and clinical language proficiency, including conversational training courses, problem-based learning activities in students' second language, focussed teaching on the clinical reasoning process and reflective skills, and language coaching to address early signs of difficulty in clinical fieldwork.
加拿大这所大学的职业治疗项目是法语项目，然而，学生必须具备双语能力才能在英语或法语临床实习环境中工作。为了有效支持学生的教育，需要了解语言在完成课程要求方面的作用。研究目的是确定语言因素在学生学术和临床表现中的作用，并为解决学习困难领域的策略提供建议。采用多方法方法使用了 4 个数据源：（1）多项迷你面试（MMI）非正式语言评估分数，（2）平均绩点（GPA），（3）实地考察评估报告，以及（4）对项目毕业生的在线调查。140 名学生的入学 GPA 和 MMI 分数分别仅预测了课程完成时 GPA 变化的 20%和 2%。失败的临床实地考察报告中表现最差的领域是临床推理和沟通能力。在调查受访者（n=47）中，44.5%的人报告说，他们在第二语言中进行临床实习并与相关图表（51.6%）和客户沟通（40.9%）是该项目中遇到的最大困难。有心理健康问题的客户（45.4%）是最难与之合作的人群，这归因于学生第二语言中的沟通障碍。提出了支持职业治疗学生学术和临床语言能力的策略，包括会话培训课程、学生第二语言中的基于问题的学习活动、专注于临床推理过程和反思技能的教学，以及解决临床实习早期困难的语言辅导。
