Comparing the Effectiveness of Role-Play Simulation versus Real Patient Transferal Skills Training in Occupational Therapy Students in Saudi-Arabia- A Quasi-Experimental Study

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of using role-play simulation as a possible alternative to real-patient training to teach transferal skills to occupational therapy students.

Patients and methods: Seventy-one occupational therapy students (including those in their second, third and fourth years) participated in a quasi-experimental study. The students were randomly divided into two groups. One group received role-play simulation at the university. The other received training on real patients with mild to moderate stroke and spinal cord injury (one session/week for six weeks) in clinical (inpatient) settings in Jeddah to learn patient transferring skills. Student performance was taken as a measure of teaching method effectiveness, and was evaluated by using a validated OSCE-type assessment tool developed at the end of training. The tool showed good reliability (Cronbach's α was > 0.7) and inter-reliability (Kappa < 0.001).

Results: A total number of 71 students participated in the study. The majority of the students were female (66.2%, N=47) and 33.8% (N=24) were male. About 33.8% (N=24) of students were in the second year, 29.6% (N=21) were in the third year and 36.6% (N=26) were in the fourth year. There were 36 (49.3%) students in the simulation group The mean age of the students was 20.70 (SD=1.2). There was no significant difference in the students' performance in both groups with a P-value of 0.139.

Conclusion: Role-play simulation can effectively be used for students' training as there was no difference in the outcome of the students' performance in patient transferring skills in both groups. This finding can help in designing and implementing training through simulation, especially in situations where training on severely ill patients may be a safety risk.