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With a shift in moving towards the 4th industrial revolution, digital storytelling has been identified as a novel way of facilitating teaching and learning. This paper will be aimed at offering an understanding of the experience and perspective of occupational therapy students in using digital storytelling as a reflective tool as an assignment as part of their undergraduate and masters occupational therapy curriculum at a university in South Africa. A descriptive qualitative study was undertaken, and five participants were purposively recruited. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted as well as a focus group with participants. An inductive analysis revealed two themes: Reflections on relevance within the occupational therapy curriculum and Is technology the new direction? The findings conclude that digital storytelling as a medium to showcase reflections on identifying formation was an innovative and novel way of documenting the reflective experiences of occupational therapy students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hand rehabilitation delivered to underserved South African communities is often the responsibility of novice or generalist occupational therapists. Novice therapists typically work with restricted supervision, support, and resources. Little is known about how these therapists should be supported in order to strengthen the services that they deliver. This study is aimed at understanding how novice occupational therapists in their first year of practice describe their experience of delivering hand rehabilitation in order to identify their support and development needs and propose interventions to address these needs. A qualitative instrumental case study design was used. Data were collected from novice occupational therapists (n = 9) who participated in an online community of practice. Data collection techniques included photoelicitation, facilitated reflection activities, and case discussion. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed. Trustworthiness strategies included reflexive writing, prolonged engagement, data source triangulation, member checking, and peer audit. Analysis generated three themes: (1) "submerged: I had to drown a little" captured participants' experience of being saturated by contextual features including poverty and poor basic management of hand injuries. (2) "Starting somewhere" captured participants' journey of treating patients with hand injuries. They transitioned from an initial sense of having "no idea" to developing "some idea"; their clinical reasoning was challenged when working with no diagnosis, unfamiliar presentations, or when contextual features rendered traditional approaches to therapy inappropriate. Finally, (3) "dynamics of 'surthrival'" captured elements that contributed to participants either thriving or merely surviving their hand rehabilitation experience. The proposed strategies identified in this study to address the support and development needs of novice therapists include interventions focused on systems and health services; learning opportunities to support competency and physical resources; and emotional support. Beyond application to the South African context, these strategies may be considered for supporting generalist or novice therapists delivering hand rehabilitation in other low- to middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore how novice occupational therapists conceptualized professional confidence. Professional confidence is a dynamic personal belief that matures over time. It is closely linked to both competence and professional identity ensuring fitness for practice. Although professional confidence has been defined and a number of its attributes have been identified, how practitioners understand or conceptualize the phenomenon is not clearly understood. Eight novice occupational therapists undertaking their community service year in South Africa during 2011 participated in the study. Data, collected during semi-structured interviews, were analyzed using phenomenographic methodology. From the participant's descriptions, three qualitatively different ways of understanding professional confidence emerged from the data, namely knowing as an occupational therapist, believing you are an occupational therapist and being an occupational therapist. The outcome space was also described. The study did not purport to gauge whether the novice therapists were in fact confident. As professional confidence is a maturing self-belief, the findings are limited to novice occupational therapists. The findings contribute to a growing understanding of professional confidence in occupational therapy. Further research is needed in terms of what informs the conceptions held by novice therapists and how professional confidence can be assessed in graduates on completion of their educational programme. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]