What do occupational therapy students during their break?

by Avry Umali

1st summer session has finally ended. I know that there is another session in store for us but before that, let’s enjoy our week break from school! So throw away your books for a little while (hopefully not literally), sit back, and relax!

In relation to school breaks, I conducted a survey about how CSUDH occupational therapy students would do or plan to do with their seven days. I had a total of 50 survey sheets returned out of 76 (65.79%) students in the masters of occupational therapy program. 25 students came from cohort 3, 8 students from cohort 4 section 1, and 18 students from cohort 4 section 2.

Survey sheets were distributed to occupational therapy students prior to end of spring 2008 break. The survey sheet had the question “How do OT students spend their precious week off from school?”. A maximum of ten items were allowed on the survey sheets. Survey sheets were collected and the total numbers of responses were recorded. Cohort 3 had a total of 231 responses, cohort 4 section 1 had a total of 67 responses, and cohort 4 section 2 had a total of 159 responses.

All responses were categorized and sorted. The categories that emerged were:

Table I. Categories of survey responses

Sleep
vacation & trips
cleaning/organizing area (room, house, apartment, car, etc)
watch a movie/tv
meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones
relaxing or do nothing
get a job and make some money/work
exercise or going to the gym
eating (out or in)
school related activities (Buying or selling books, registering for summer school, etc)
go to clubs and bars (can be drinking/dancing, specified)
be involved in any sport
doing crafts or other projects
PC/video console activities (blogging, playing games, surfing the internet)
run errands (do grocery shopping, pay bills, etc)
cooking and/or baking
reading
drinking
shopping (clothes, shoes, etc.)
dancing
listening to music
smoking


I have sorted the top five activities that emerged from each cohort’s survey. The results were as follows:

Table II. Cohort 3’s top 5 activities to do during their school break (n=231)


meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones=49 responses (21.21%)

vacation & trips=30 responses (13.00%)

cleaning/organizing area (room, house, apartment, car, etc)=16 responses (6.93%)

watch a movie/tv TIE exercise or going to the gym=14 responses (6.06%)

doing crafts or other projects=11 responses (4.76%)



Table III. Cohort 4 section 1’s top 5 activities to do during their school break (n=67)

meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones TIE vacation & trips=11 responses (16.42%)

relaxing or do nothing TIE cooking and/or baking=6 responses (8.96%)

watch a movie/tv TIE exercise or going to the gym=5 responses (7.46%)

school related activities (Buying or selling books, registering for summer school, etc)=4 responses (5.97%)

doing crafts or other projects TIE shopping (clothes, shoes, etc.)=3 responses (4.48%)



Table IV. Cohort 4 section 2’s top 5 activities to do during their school break (n=159)

meet/eat/call friends, relatives, loved ones=27 responses (16.98%)

vacation & trips=20 responses (12.58%)

watch a movie/tv =12 responses (7.55%)

school related activities (Buying or selling books, registering for summer school, etc)=9 responses (5.66%)

exercise or going to the gym TIE shopping (clothes, shoes, etc.)=8 responses (5.03%)



One thing that I can say is that all three cohorts identifying and agreeing on the same activity was amazing. I guess we learn to value our relationships with other people as we deal with the daily stress of school life.

What do you guys think of these results? Please write and comment!