Supporting Students in Relation to Racism: Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Educator Perspectives

<b>Background.</b> Racism is ingrained within the Canadian healthcare system, resulting in health inequities for Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) service users, healthcare workers, and students. Occupational therapy students spend a large amount of their training with fieldwork educators within these environments. <b>Purpose.</b> Explore the experiences of occupational therapy fieldwork educators in relation to supporting students witnessing or experiencing racism during fieldwork education. <b>Method.</b> Using an interpretive description research design, with a semi-structured interview guide, we conducted individual and group interviews with nine occupational therapy fieldwork educators with a minimum of two years of clinical experience. Data analysis included data immersion, independent coding by multiple team members, and grouping and collapsing data to develop categories. <b>Findings.</b> All participant educators discussed racism with students, but had varying levels of comfort doing so. The participants used reflection as a tool to support students learning about racism. Participants were "self-taught" regarding racism and wanted help to develop their own, as well as their students' skills in responding to racism. <b>Conclusion.</b> Health organizations and universities need to work in an integrated way to prioritize anti-racism education for all occupational therapy students and practitioners, and to develop multipronged systems for the disclosure and addressing of racism.