New graduate occupational therapists experience of showering assessments: a phenomological study.
BACKGROUND
Shower assessments are complex and challenging tasks undertaken by many occupational therapists with little known about how they are conducted and how new graduates learn to carry these out. There are no published guidelines and limited opportunity for students to practise shower assessments during their training bringing into question how new graduates learn to do this assessment and judge their effectiveness.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the experience of new graduate occupational therapists undertaking their first shower assessments in South Australia.


METHODS
Six graduate occupational therapists participated in a phenomenological study. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed according to Giorgi's descriptive phenomenological method.


RESULTS
New graduates found the shower assessment process cognitively and emotionally demanding. Without prior experience, new graduates lacked confidence to perform the practical aspects of conducting a shower assessment. The sense of responsibility for getting it right and ensuring client safety was at times overwhelming. Social norms around nudity, age and gender impacted on the graduate's interaction with clients in the shower environment. However, graduates with previous care attendant work were better able to manage the social and practical challenges inherent in shower assessments.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study suggest that additional experiential, 'hands on', learning is needed in university curriculum for new graduates to develop practical clinical skills, particularly as practice placements have become more diverse. Similarly there is a need for organisations to provide orientation activities and mentoring for new graduates as they transition from student to therapist.
School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
Emma K
EK
Glenn
Susan
S
Gilbert-Hunt
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001494:Baths / Q000523:psychology*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013021:South Australia; D013997:Time Factors; D035502:Trust; D055815:Young Adult