ARE OCCUPATONAL THERAPY STUDENTS' APPROACHES TO STUDY A PREDICTOR OF THEIR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT?

Objectives: To investigate if undergraduate occupational therapy students’ from Australia, Norway and Hong Kong approaches to academic study are predictive of their academic achievement Methods: 644 undergraduate... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives: To investigate if undergraduate occupational therapy students’ from Australia, Norway and Hong Kong approaches to academic study are predictive of their academic achievement

Methods: 644 undergraduate occupational therapy students from Australia (n=376), Norway (n=159), and Hong Kong (n=109) completed the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST). Data was analysed using multiple linear regression.

Findings: The total regression model accounted for 8.1% of the students’ academic performance variance. In this model, it was also found that the ASSIST Deep Learning subscales of ‘Seeking Meaning’ and ‘Interest in Ideas’ each made small unique contributions of 0.96% and 0.55% of the students’ overall academic performance. When the students’ grade point average was the dependent variable and the ASSIST Strategic Learning subscales were the independent variables, two were found to account for the 0.6% (‘Time Management’) and 1.85% of the variance. Finally, when the Surface Approach to Learning subscales were included, ‘Lack of Purpose’ accounted for 1.12% and ‘Fear of Failure’ accounted from 2.43% of the students’ academic results dependent variable.

Practice & Education Implications: From the results, it appears that students’ approaches to academic study are in part predictive of their overall academic performance. This provides valuable information for academic and fieldwork educators of students.

Conclusion: Deep, Strategic, and Surface approaches to academic studying are predictive of occupational therapy students’ grade point average. When academic and practice education supervisors are designing learning opportunities, they should provide a range of learning opportunities that facilitate Deep, Strategic, and Surface approaches to study.