Association of Graduate Healthcare Students’ Population-based Demographics to Occupational Balance
Event Type
Presentation
Start Date
12-1-2020 9:00 AM
End Date
12-1-2020 12:00 PM
Description
Introduction: The growing demands on healthcare graduate students poses the question on the amount of occupational balance they experience in their lives. Earlier studies reported that schoolwork took precedence over other aspects of student’s lives (Longfield, Romas, & Irwin, 2006). The introduction of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire 11 (OBQ11) provided a way to measure the amount of occupational balance (OB) experienced by individuals or groups. The instrument’s psychometric validity has been verified in Europe, but not in other countries such as the United States of America (U.S.A.).
Purpose: The current study is the first attempt to implement use the OBQ11 as a research instrument to measure occupational balance among graduate healthcare students in the U.S.A. The study aims to identify the correlation between graduate healthcare students’ population-based demographics and their occupational balance.
Method: Researchers deployed an electronic OBQ11 to enrolled cohorts of healthcare students at a regional campus of a private, not for profit university in Florida. The cohorts comprised students from eight graduate programs at the regional campus.
Results: Data analysis revealed the level of occupational balance in individuals, individual cohorts, and the entire group of graduate healthcare students. OBQ11 performance provided information about individual and group occupational imbalance, as well as the associations to their respective population-based demographics. A significant weak positive correlation was found between year within the program and the students perceived OB. These results thereby add to the existing literature on occupational balance among graduate healthcare students.
Conclusion: A significant association was noted based on subjects' year in program; however, no other strong associations were identified between population-based demographics of graduate healthcare students. Future studies should examine the risk factors leading to occupational imbalance for graduate students. Limitations of this study included administering the OBQ11 during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Quarantine, instability, and the mental health impacts that came along with not being able to see famiy members, participate in social gatherings, not facilities closing, as well as prolonged period spent at home could have impacted the results of this study. With this information, graduate schools would be able to better understand the needs and risks of imbalances and therefore, offer the appropriate assistance to their students.
Recommended Citation
Carrasco, R. C., Wagman, P., Crews, R., Enrico, D., Fleming, S., Kozar, C., Lopez, J., & Murphy, C. (2020), Association of Graduate Healthcare Students’ Population-based Demographics to Occupational Balance, Presentation, Seventh Annual Research Colloquium, https://nsuworks.nova.edu/ot_colloquium/seventh/events/1
Association of Graduate Healthcare Students’ Population-based Demographics to Occupational Balance
Introduction: The growing demands on healthcare graduate students poses the question on the amount of occupational balance they experience in their lives. Earlier studies reported that schoolwork took precedence over other aspects of student’s lives (Longfield, Romas, & Irwin, 2006). The introduction of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire 11 (OBQ11) provided a way to measure the amount of occupational balance (OB) experienced by individuals or groups. The instrument’s psychometric validity has been verified in Europe, but not in other countries such as the United States of America (U.S.A.).
Purpose: The current study is the first attempt to implement use the OBQ11 as a research instrument to measure occupational balance among graduate healthcare students in the U.S.A. The study aims to identify the correlation between graduate healthcare students’ population-based demographics and their occupational balance.
Method: Researchers deployed an electronic OBQ11 to enrolled cohorts of healthcare students at a regional campus of a private, not for profit university in Florida. The cohorts comprised students from eight graduate programs at the regional campus.
Results: Data analysis revealed the level of occupational balance in individuals, individual cohorts, and the entire group of graduate healthcare students. OBQ11 performance provided information about individual and group occupational imbalance, as well as the associations to their respective population-based demographics. A significant weak positive correlation was found between year within the program and the students perceived OB. These results thereby add to the existing literature on occupational balance among graduate healthcare students.
Conclusion: A significant association was noted based on subjects' year in program; however, no other strong associations were identified between population-based demographics of graduate healthcare students. Future studies should examine the risk factors leading to occupational imbalance for graduate students. Limitations of this study included administering the OBQ11 during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Quarantine, instability, and the mental health impacts that came along with not being able to see famiy members, participate in social gatherings, not facilities closing, as well as prolonged period spent at home could have impacted the results of this study. With this information, graduate schools would be able to better understand the needs and risks of imbalances and therefore, offer the appropriate assistance to their students.