Reading With a Purpose: Investigating the Relationship Between OT Students’ Reading Skills & Metacognitive Strategies

The purpose of this study is to determine (1) how much time occupational therapy (OT) graduate students are spending on course assigned readings and (2) which metacognitive strategies these students are using to successfully manage readings. Given that reading is a major and important component of graduate studies and lifelong learning in professional practice, it is important for OT educators to understand how much time students spend on this task and the strategies they use to successfully complete and comprehend cognitively challenging content. This mixed methods survey study involved a convenience sample of postgraduate and graduate students in three different OT programs across the United States. Data collection included asking students to complete anonymous self-reported electronic (4 total) surveys prior to, during, and after completion of a current course in their OT curriculum. Data elements extracted included demographics (age, race, gender, first generation student), perceived and estimated amount of required readings completed during the course, and metacognitive strategies used to be successful in completion of course readings. Participants completed questionnaires using a link and had a unique identifier with no names collected or used. Researchers collected and stored data via Qualtrics. Initially students reported reading and comprehension as average to strong but reported they are comprehending and skimming assigned readings. Students reported feeling challenged with readings, but reported themselves as strong readers spending 2 days on average reading 50 pages or less. Initially they reported good use of metacognitive strategies but reported many challenges to reading during their course. Having a clearer understanding of how much time students spend on readings and the strategies used to successfully manage readings may provide OT faculty with important information about how they assign and support successful engagement in readings.

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