DEVELOPING AN AUTHENTIC PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY ON ROLE-EMERGING PLACEMENTS

1. DEVELOPING AN AUTHENTIC PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY ON ROLE-EMERGING PLACEMENTS Dr Channine Clarke: School of Health Professions, University of Brighton Occupational therapists promote health and well being through engagement in occupation. Role-emerging placements, where there are no on-site occupational therapists, are now compulsory for occupational therapy students at the University of Brighton. Research design • FINDINGS • Through engaging in the challenging and autonomous learning experiences demanded of • role-emerging placements, students: • developed new insights and a deeper understanding of occupational therapy • developed new ways of being as a therapist • felt empowered to move out of the ‘shadow’ of their educator and work out for • themselves what occupational therapy meant to them • created a vision of the type of therapists they wanted to become • challenged existing views and practices • developed a professional identity that was of their own making, rather than passively and uncritically accepting the ways of being and practices of others (Clarke 2012). I am grown up enough to be an OT, I’m not little anymore I wasn’t just mirroring the OT, I was doing it for myself Its always more powerful when you learn these things for yourself I could develop my own identity instead of sticking to what the OT normally does What matters most is how you see yourself References: Clarke C (2012) Occupational therapy students’ experiences of role-emerging placements and their influence on professional practice. University of Brighton: Unpublished PhD. Dall’Alba G (2009) Learning to be professionals. London: Spinger Jarvis P (2010) Adult education and lifelong learning, theory and practice, 4th ed. Oxon: Routledge. Smith JA, Flowers P, Larkin M (2009) Interpretative phenomenological analysis. London: Sage.