Identifying Core Competencies for Prefieldwork Occupational Therapy Students in Adult Therapy: A Delphi Study With Clinical Therapists.
Shih-Chen Fan, Jia-Yu Shao, Ting-Yu Lu and 2 others
14 core competencies were finalized for prefieldwork OT students in adult therapy, with therapeutic relationships and assessment skills rated highest by clinical supervisors.
Management was the only competency excluded.
Key findings
1Fifteen potential competencies were identified, and 14 core competencies remained in the final list after management was excluded.
2Therapeutic relationships and assessment skills received the highest appropriateness ratings from clinical supervisors in the second Delphi round.
3The management competency met the exclusion threshold with a mean score of 3.95, an IQR of 1.25, and a CVR of 0.4.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The focus group had only 9 participants recruited by convenience sampling from one campus, so the challenges identified may not represent all prefieldwork students. All Delphi supervisors were from 24 sites affiliated with one university (Chung Shan Medical University) in Taiwan, limiting generalisability to other countries or practice settings. Only two Delphi rounds were conducted; the authors note that two to three rounds are generally sufficient, but a third round might have shifted borderline competencies. The management competency was excluded, yet the authors acknowledge students still encounter basic management tasks in clinical settings, so the final list may underrepresent a real need. Local-global awareness received mixed ratings, with some supervisors viewing international exposure as less relevant to local practice, so its inclusion rests on a subset of the panel.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest declared. Funded by Chung Shan Medical University within the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (grant 1-6-10, 2024).
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the 14-competency list as a validated national or international standard. It reflects the consensus of 22 supervisors from one university's affiliated sites in Taiwan, built on a focus group of 9 people. It is a structured starting point for curriculum discussion, not an evidence-based benchmark for student assessment.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →