Knowledge, Confidence, & Competence: Utilizing Personal Narrative as a Pedagogical Tool for Educating Professional Healthcare Students about Local Lead Involvement

Abstract

Community-based occupational therapy provides a unique opportunity for practitioners to listen and respond to the needs that are most pressing in local communities. In Marion County, Indiana, lead exposure and resulting negative health consequences should be of major concern to local residents and healthcare providers, as many homes are older and at-risk for lead-based paint and corroded water piping and lead soil contents are high due to historical locations of lead-based product factories (United States Commission on Civil Rights, 2020); however, few local professional healthcare educational programs focus on equipping students with lead toxicity knowledge regarding symptomology, treatment, and legislative mandates for testing schedules, putting community members at high-risk for continued exposure. This 14-week doctoral capstone utilized community-based occupational therapy methods to address these issues, creating and disseminating a videoed narrative-based theater pedagogical tool to educate professional healthcare students and advocating for the profession’s unique role in addressing lead exposure. The intervention consisted of a 35-minute video, produced from community interviews and utilizing narrative medicine techniques, and a virtual lead toolkit for students to implement in future client care. Mixed methods data analysis found significant learning outcomes of occupational therapy students who engaged in the intervention. The products of this doctoral capstone are being broadly shared through professional publication and widespread community distribution of a modified version of the intervention.