Fieldwork Educator’s Guide to Level I Fieldwork

A new resource for occupational therapy academic fieldwork coordinators and fieldwork educators, Fieldwork Educator's Guide to Level I Fieldwork is a practical guide for faculty and clinicians to design and implement Level I fieldwork experiences for occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant students.

Fieldwork Educator's Guide to Level I Fieldwork was designed to address the challenges of integrating Level I fieldwork with classroom learning experiences. Expansive and versatile, the book meets the recently expanded definition of Level I fieldwork according to the 2018 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education standards, including faculty-led experiences, standardized patients, simulation, and supervision by a fieldwork educator in a practice environment.

Each unit of the text builds upon the previous unit. The first unit provides fundamental knowledge on experiential learning and includes an orientation to the purpose of Level I fieldwork in occupational therapy. Building on this foundation, the second unit equips the reader with resources to develop a Level I fieldwork learning plan suitable for their setting. The final units focus on situational scenarios that emerge during Level I fieldwork placements and provides a framework for assessing student learning during Level I fieldwork. While each chapter is designed to build upon one another, they also can be used as stand-alone resources depending on the needs of the reader.

What is included in Fieldwork Educator’s Guide to Level I Fieldwork:

• Up-to-date terminology
• Experiential learning frameworks and models in diverse contexts, including role emerging and simulation
• Strategies for addressing anxiety and student stress management and supporting students with disabilities
• Models to support clinical reasoning development during Level I fieldwork
• Mechanisms to foster student professional development and communication skills

Be sure to also look into the successive textbook, Fieldwork Educator’s Guide to Level II Fieldwork, which was designed in-tandem with this book to be a progressive resource that exclusively focuses on Level II fieldwork.

Debra Hanson, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, is currently a professor at the University of Mary, which maintains dually accredited doctoral programs at Bismarck, North Dakota and Fargo, North Dakota campuses, and an affiliated doctoral program in Billings, Montana. Dr. Hanson previously served as faculty and academic fieldwork coordinator (AFWC) at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota for more than 30 years, transitioning to the University of Mary, Fargo, North Dakota campus in 2019. Dr. Hanson completed her bachelor’s degrees in Occupational Therapy (1980) and Psychology (1979) and a master’s degree in Counseling (1990), all at the University of North Dakota, and a PhD in Adult Education in 2009 from North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota. Dr. Hanson served as the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Commission on Education AFWC representative from 2010 to 2013 and was recognized in 2014 as a Fellow in the AOTA related to her leadership in fieldwork education. She has served as a content expert and reviewer on the topic of fieldwork education for various academic journals and coordinated the Fieldwork Issues column for OT Practice from 2010 to 2017. She has published several book chapters and numerous peer-reviewed publications and has presented at state, national, and international conferences on topics related to fieldwork education, student clinical reasoning development, evolution of occupational therapy practice, professional identity, considerations for rural practice, spirituality, and integration of occupational therapy theory in practice and various teaching methods.

Elizabeth D. DeIuliis, OTD, MOT, OTR/L, CLA, is a clinical associate professor at Duquesne University, which maintains dually accredited occupational therapy programs at the master’s-level and the entry-level occupational therapy doctorate level in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. DeIuliis served as the AFWC at Duquesne University for more than 11 years and assumed the role of program director in 2021. Dr. DeIuliis received a bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences and a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Duquesne University. She completed a Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program at Chatham University. Dr. DeIuliis also earned the credential Academic Leader via successful completion of the AOTA’s Academic Leadership Institute in 2018. Dr. DeIuliis has had various leadership roles within academia and the occupational therapy profession, such as serving on the Board of Directors within the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association and as a subject matter expert and volunteer within the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. She has published several textbooks, numerous peer-reviewed publications, and has presented at state, national, and international conferences on topics related to fieldwork education, doctorate capstone, professionalism, interprofessional education, and teaching methodologies.