Johnson, Hanson, Stuz-Tanenbaum, Sauerwald

1. BUILDING LEADERSHIP
CAPACITY IN THE
ACADEMIC FIELDWORK
COORDINATOR ROLE
CARYN JOHNSON, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA
DEBRA HANSON, PHD, OTR/L, FAOTA
PATRICIA STUTZ-TANENBAUM, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA
CAMILLE SAUERWALD, EDM, OTR
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3. VISION
To develop resources that enable academic fieldwork
coordinators (AFWC’s) to embrace and advance in their
AFWC role.
• Development of management strategies
• Recognition for and advancement of leadership skills
• Promotion of fieldwork scholarship.
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4. OBJECTIVES
The learner will:
 Understand the need for building leadership capacity
in the AFWC role
 Recognize existing strategies/resources
 Learn about results of one initiative (2014 AFWC
Institute)
 Discuss implications and future recommendations
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5. UNIQUE ROLE OF AFWC
The role of the OT/OTA Academic Fieldwork
Coordinator (AFWC) is unique among faculty.
Prominence in ACOTE standards
Face of the department
Diverse set of skills
including administration and data management
course and program development
marketing
conflict-resolution
understanding of legal and ethical issues
professional development of both students and
fieldwork educators
(Stutz-Tanenbaum et al, 2015).
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6. THE NEED:
AFWC LISTSERV (9/14-9/15)
• Administration (89 entries)
• Data Management
• Placements
• Job description
• FW/program policies
• SARA
• Help finding placements
• Academics (18 entries)
• Course content
• Teaching
• Standards (15 entries)
• Help with compliance
• Student Issues (11 entries)
• Professional behavior
• Ethical issues
• Scholarship (not determined)
• In search of evidence/literature
• Collaboration in
research
• Sites/FWEd’s (19 entries)
• New models of FW
• Emerging practice settings
• International FW
• Medicare
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7. THE NEED:
HIGH TURNOVER
 Stutz-Tanenbaum et al (2015) found 50% or more of
AFWC’s had five years or less experience in the role
and limited mentorship and training for the role.
 Imbalance with work and personal life. Lack of AFWC
mentorship and training coupled with job isolation
(Salzman, 2009) may be factors contributing to this
challenge, resulting in high levels of turnover among
AFWC’s.
 Scarce opportunities are available to promote
leadership development for the AFWC role (McAllister,
Paterson, Higgs and Bithell, 2010).
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8. CYCLE OF
DISSATISFACTION?
Accept
AFWC
position
(novice)
Focus on FW placements
and management
(“concierge”)
Not very
rewarding
Job dissatisfaction
Exit
AFWC
position
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9. LIMITED EXISTING RESOURCES AND SUPPORT
• AOTA AFWC Listserv
• AOTA Annual
Conference – including
AFWC Forum
• 2014 AOTA Institute:
Academic Fieldwork
Coordinator: Building
Our Own Future!
• Fieldwork Educator
Certificate program
• Fieldwork publications
Zombies are nuts about brains.
http://bentobjects.blogspot.com/2009/09/zombies-
are-nuts-about-brains.html
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10. 2014 AFWC INSTITUTE
• Overview of 2014 AOTA Institute
• Nuts and Bolts of ACOTE Standards
• Working with Fieldwork Educators
• Laying the Groundwork for Students
• Scholarship and Service
• Quantitative Data
• 40% OTA, 60% OT
• 60% less than 1 year experience; 35% 1-3 years
• 90% moderately/highly valuable
• 80% would absolutely recommend
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11. AFWC INSTITUTE:
QUALITATIVE DATA
Themes from 2014 AOTA Institute Evaluation
 Hands on learning and practical AFWC resources desired
 Collaboration, community-building and mentorship
valued as means to gain a vision of role identity
 Need for resources and content at different levels:
OT/OTA; novice to advanced AFWC;
established/developing programs
 Too much information and not enough time
 Specific and in-depth information desired on targeted
topics rather than broad overview
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12. RECOMMENDATIONS
(FROM 2014 INSTITUTE)
 Hands on and practical learning experiences
 ACOTE Standards compliance
 Site retention
 Student advisement
 Breakout sessions for specific and in-depth
information on a given topic for various levels
of AFWC, standard or issue
 AFWC training which spans time
 Mentoring
 Multi-day training
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13. RECOMMENDATIONS(CONT’D)
 Multiple layers of AFWC leadership training.
This might include nuances in the role for:
 OT and OTA
 Novice to experienced AFWC
 Developing and established programs
 Scholarship and professional development
 Networking
 Building AFWC community
 Establishing AFWC identity as educator and
leader
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14. MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE
TO SUPPORT:
• AFWC recruitment
• Retention
• Job satisfaction
• Leadership development
(Stutz-Tanenbaum et al, 2015).
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15. POSSIBLE OPPORTUNITIES
AND SOLUTIONS
• International efforts (e.g. Australia)
• AFWC listserv
• Continuing education
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16. DISCUSSION
How are stakeholders
impacted?
• AFWC
• PD
• Faculty
• Academic
program/university
• Students
• FW Educators
• AOTA
Other….
Wondering about the
future…
• What would help novice
AFWC’s stay in the role
longer?
• What can academic
programs do?
• What can AOTA do?
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17. REFERENCES
• McAllister, L., Paterson, M., Higgs, J. & Bithell, C.
(Eds.)(2010). Innovations in allied health fieldwork
education: A critical appraisal. Rotterdam, The
Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
• Salzman A. (2009). Portraits of persistence: Professional
development of successful directors of clinical education.
Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 23(1), 44–54.
• Stutz-Tanenbaum, P., Hanson, D. J., Koski, J., & Greene, D.
(2015). Exploring the complexity of the academic
fieldwork coordinator role. Occupational Therapy in
Health Care, 29 (2), 139-152
(doi:10.3109/07380577.2015.1017897).
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