A Different Journey: The Experience of Transitioning from the Status of an Occupational Therapy Student in Arab Society to Working as a Novice Occupational Therapist in Israel

This article describes a qualitative study of the transition experiences of novice occupational therapists in Israel from their status as students to novice therapists in the labor market. The purpose of the study was to understand the significance of this transition from the subjective perspective of the study participants – Arab occupational therapists, graduates of Occupational Therapy studies in academic institutions in Israel. The study was based on a qualitative-phenomenological approach and included thirteen female interviewees who were recruited in a targeted sample and interviewed in a semi-structured interview. The content of the interviews was analyzed according to the principles of qualitative research, in order to identify main categories and themes. The findings pointed to four main themes: (a) The experience of transition as a universal process. This theme describes processes and experiences shared by each occupational therapist (OT) such as the process of job search and integration into work; (b) The transition experience as a cultural context. This theme describes the general barriers related to the physical, social, and cultural environment of the Arab OTs in order to integrate into the culturally diverse Israeli labor market, in terms of service providers and service recipients; (c) Personal processes that promote coping with the challenges of the transition. This theme included the personality characteristics and soft skills of the Arab recruits that promoted coping with the difficulties they experienced at the beginning, and the strategies that helped them do so; (d) In light of the above, recommendations emerged for the novice therapists, employers, and managements of Occupational Therapy departments to facilitate the transition.