| Summary: | The stressful and demanding environment of a healthcare facility can lead to interpersonal conflict. As a result of working in these environments, occupational therapy students may experience such conflict during Level II fieldwork. Research has shown that effective conflict management is an important component of success on Level II fieldwork; however, occupational therapy students often self-report a lack of confidence, comfort, and competence with managing conflict. Forty Master of Occupational Therapy students took part in a 2-day conflict management workshop. The workshop consisted of didactic training of conflict management concepts; large group process drama activities that introduced relevant role-play concepts; and small groups process drama activities that applied role-play concepts specific to fieldwork conflict scenarios. Evaluation was conducted through pre- and post-surveys before and after the training. Pre- and post-surveys both gauged students’ self-perceptions of confidence, competence, and comfort around conflict management. The mean average of students’ self-perceptions of comfort, confidence, and competence with regard to conflict management improved after participation in the workshop. An independent samples t-test was completed for each self-perception question (confidence, comfort,
and competence). There was significant difference in the scores for two questions: confidence pre-survey (M=2.95) and confidence post-survey (M=3.31); t(78)=3.46,p<.001, d=0.78; comfort pre-survey (M=2.5) and comfort post-survey (M=3.23) t(78)=6.23, p=.011, d=1.40. One question did not show statistical significance:
competence pre-survey (M=2.73) and competence post-survey (M=3.31); t(78)=5.31, p=.855. These results may inform curriculum around occupational therapy conflict management education prior to Level II fieldwork experiences.
|
|---|
