Fear of looking bad: Othering of students requiring a reasonable adjustment within professional practice placements

The research project was a cross disciplinary multi-methods research study to explore the effectiveness of reasonable adjustments in professional practice placements in one British university. The aim of the research was to understand the lived experience of procedural and practical use of reasonable adjustments on practice placement. The objective was to enable the facilitation of recommendations to enhance student outcomes including continuation and degree classification. Thirty-four undergraduate and postgraduate students completed questionnaires and n=9 students attended n=2 focus groups. The research participants were students undertaking professional degrees in occupational therapy, social work, childhood studies, biomedical science, sport and exercise therapy, dietetics, nursing, education and therapeutic counselling who had a diagnosis or self-disclosure of mental health, physical health, physical disability or neurodivergence. The data were subjected to a thematic analysis, and the themes of ‘need for clearer procedures’, ‘looking bad: stigma and negative perceptions of students’, and ‘experience on placement’ emerged. The article presents the research findings and discusses the othering of students in practice placement. It concludes by first recommending that the procedural response to reasonable adjustments could be reviewed to incorporate practice accommodations. Secondly, it recommends that placement providers discuss students’ reasonable adjustments more openly to align learning opportunities with those experienced by able-bodied and neurotypical students, to support the development of knowledge and skills of all students.