Measuring knowledge of school-based occupational therapy

Objective: The primary purpose of this study was to develop a measure of kn owledge of Occupational Therapy in School settings (KNOTS) far occupational therapy students. A secondary purpose was to develop a scale of Self-Effic acy in School Settings (SESS)for occupational therapy students. Method. One hundred forty-five university students enrolled in either occup ational therapy classes or education classes completed a questionnaire cons isting (in part) of the 60-item KNOTS scale and the SESS scale. Analyses of internal reliability, group comparisons, and correlations were computed on the scores. Results. The reliabilities of the KNOTS (.85) and SESS (.94) were reasonabl y high. Occupational therapy students performed significantly better than d id education students, and senior occupational therapy students scored sign ificantly higher than did juniors on the KNOTS. SESS scores were positively but not significantly correlated with KNOTS scorer. Conclusion. If further investigation provides additional evidence for the r eliability and validity of the KNOTS and SESS, both measures have a number of potential practical applications.