Community-based practice to increase holistic care

As population health grows as a focus area of occupational therapy (OT) services, addressing function in community and nontraditional settings has become a greater priority within the profession (Domholdt et al., 2020). It is important to prepare practitioners entering the field to be competent in a variety of areas, including community-based settings. OT and OTA students completing fieldwork experiences in these settings can improve their clinical and communication skills, adaptability, and professional competence (Mattila, 2019). Although Level II fieldwork experiences exist in community-based settings, they are less common for Level I fieldwork (Tyminski, 2018). The literature currently lacks information on Level I fieldwork in community-based settings, indicating a need for more research. As graduate OT students at St. Catherine University, we completed our second Level I fieldwork at a community-based setting. Through this experience, we identified the importance and feasibility of implementing more community-based fieldwork opportunities.