An Exploratory Study: Undergraduates' Perspectives on how Threshold Concepts Influence Professional Identity.
Shenae E O'Mahony, Annette V Joosten, Jennifer O'Brien
PMID 36779857WHAT IT FOUND
Final-year OT students valued client-centred and occupation-based practice but felt unsure about clinical reasoning and theory.
Placements were key to linking these concepts to professional identity, though students struggled to apply them when workplace culture differed.
Key findings
01Students highly valued client-centred, occupation-based, and evidence-based practice as central to their professional identity.
02Students did not view theory or critical thinking as identity-defining concepts themselves, but as foundational skills needed to master the core threshold concepts.
03Practice placements were described as essential for transforming theoretical knowledge into professional identity, particularly when students had to explain their role to others.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Convenience sample from a single university, so findings may not transfer to other educational contexts or graduate-entry programs. Low response rate (25%) means students who participated may have been more confident in the threshold concepts than those who did not. Self-reported perceptions only; the study did not measure actual clinical competence or patient outcomes.
Declared interests
No specific funding source or conflict of interest declaration is mentioned in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high agreement on values like client-centredness as evidence of clinical competence. The study shows students valued these concepts, but also reported significant uncertainty in applying theory and reasoning, particularly when facing real-world workplace constraints.