Working well with others: the prediction of students' clinical performance.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine whether multivariate measurement at the initiation of students' training in occupational therapy could predict clinical performance in Level II fieldwork.


METHODS
Forty-five students in their first semester were videotaped in pairs and completed personality and emotional communication measures related to the potential for working well with others. Two years later, the students' clinical performance was rated by Level II fieldwork supervisors.


RESULTS
In the physical rehabilitation fieldwork setting, students who were conventional and quietly concerned were rated higher than students who were unconventional, talkative, and less other-centered. In the pediatric rehabilitation setting, students who were autonomous and nonverbally perceptive were rated higher than students who were interdependent and less perceptive. In the psychiatric rehabilitation setting, students who were emotionally reactive to facial but not body cues of emotion were rated higher than students who had low emotional reactivity and were less perceptive to facial but not body cues.


CONCLUSIONS
The varying institutional cultures, types of patients, and roles of occupational therapy across fieldwork settings may require different sets of attributes for working well with others. Educators and supervisors should be aware of these possible differences when fashioning Level I fieldwork experiences.
Tickle-Degnen
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Department of Occupational Therapy, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003142:Communication; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007397:Internship, Nonmedical; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000193:education*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010551:Personality; D012307:Risk Factors; D013334:Students