Current Practices in Implementing the Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstone Needs Assessment: A National Survey

Abstract

Entry-level occupational therapy doctorate (OTD) programs navigate curricular decisions related to designing, implementing, and refining doctoral capstone processes. One of the complex requirements is the doctoral capstone needs assessment (DCNA) which each student completes prior to the implementation of the doctoral capstone project. The researchers aimed to contribute to the specificity of DCNA-related understanding, informing quality decision-making, via a national, cross-sectional survey of current DCNA practices. Purposive sampling resulted in a 24.3% (n=54) response rate of mostly Doctoral Capstone Coordinators (DCCs; 98.1%) representing programs across doctoral capstone experience levels. The timing of DCNA processes trended toward the latter half of their curriculums (~85%). Analysis indicated this timing of the DCNA was one of the most prominent challenges (n=39; 72.2%). The DCNA methods most commonly used were literature review of population needs (n=52; 96.3%), interview of a capstone site informant (n=45; 83.3%), and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis (n=36; 66.7%) with programs qualitatively either leaning toward primarily literature-based or site-specific approaches depending on various contextual factors. Respondents offered a number of DCNA strategies (M=7.96) for their students to use in order to facilitate flexible planning. Most respondents indicated that DCNA findings were reported via a written narrative (n=45; 83.3%) and/or a presentation (n=34; 63.0%). Constructive operational processes followed the themes of community engagement, scaffolding, and a step-wise approach. The current DCNA practices identified within this study are considered an essential step toward establishing best practices and structured tools that will aid DCCs in the development and quality enhancement of DCNA-related curricular components