An analysis of weekly instructional input hours and student work hours in occupational therapy fieldwork.

A detailed analysis was made of individual agency practices, and of average across agencies, in weekly instructional hours and student work hours attributed to the Level II fieldwork program during one 12-week assignment. The study is based upon data collected on daily log sheets from students and agency staff and related to their activities for instruction and agency work for that period. Questions addressed were related to whether services by affiliating students offset instructional efforts by staff, and whether assignment of experiences was primarily for student education or for agency expediency. It was found that agencies typically incurred large "losses" during the first 3 to 4 weeks of the assignment, while they gained a substantial sum of "benefits" for the remaining 8 to 9 weeks. Further, it was found that large agencies could absorb initial instructional efforts with minimal negative impact, but that smaller agencies often found it necessary to develop student schedules that met agency needs.