Improving Occupational Therapy Students' Holistic Care Competencies Through a Structured Holistic Thinking Curriculum: a Mixed Design

Background: Occupational therapy emphasizes the holistic approach, but occupational therapy students are unable to use holistic thinking to design holistic solutions for cases immediately during their internship due to their lack of clinical experience, which requires extensive guidance from clinical occupational therapist. Study Aim: To improve the holistic care competencies of occupational therapy students using a structured holistic thinking curriculum. Methods: The study population was occupational therapy interns from a northern teaching hospital. The holistic thinking curriculum was designed as a structured program using mind maps, case-based discussions, and clinical observations to integrate physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects. The experimental group took a pre-test after a case report in weeks 4 and 5, a first post-test and course satisfaction after the first structured holistic thinking course, and a second structured holistic thinking course with a second post-test and course satisfaction in weeks 11 and 12; the control group had no course but had a guided version of the holistic thinking case study form for independent study, and the control and experimental groups were tested pre and post using the holistic thinking case study form and the personal learning self-efficacy scale. Data analysis: Quantitative data for the holistic thinking case study form were determined by three occupational therapists with at least 5 years of teaching experience through consensus conferences to determine the degree of compliance of the case study form with holistic care, and differences between the holistic thinking case study form and the personal learning self-efficacy scale were determined by Kruskal-Wallis with a p-value of 0.05. Qualitative data for the holistic thinking case study form were determined by three occupational therapists with at least 5 years of teaching experience to determine the degree of compliance of the case study form with h