Measuring knowledge of school-based occupational therapy.
OBJECTIVE
The primary purpose of this study was to develop a measure of Knowledge of Occupational Therapy in School settings (KNOTS) for occupational therapy students. A secondary purpose was to develop a scale of Self-Efficacy in School Settings (SESS) for occupational therapy students.


METHODS
One hundred forty-five university students enrolled in either occupational therapy classes or education classes completed a questionnaire consisting (in part) of the 60-item KNOTS scale and the SESS scale. Analyses of internal reliability, group comparisons, and correlations were computed on the scores.


RESULTS
The reliabilities of the KNOTS (.85) and SESS (.94) were reasonably high. Occupational therapy students performed significantly better than did education students, and senior occupational therapy students scored significantly higher than did juniors on the KNOTS. SESS scores were positively but not significantly correlated with KNOTS scores.


CONCLUSIONS
If further investigation provides additional evidence for the reliability and validity of the KNOTS and SESS, both measures have a number of potential practical applications.
Harris
M B
MB
College of Education, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 87131, USA. mharris@unm.edu
Alley
S T
ST
D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000193:education*; D011364:Professional Practice; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires