Perceptions of occupational therapy students about experience of teaching-service-community integration

The present article tries understand the perceptions of students of the professional internship in occupational therapy on the experience of teaching-service-community integration experienced in a laboratory of daily life activity. It was a qualitative and exploratory study, conducted through semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was used with the thematic category: teaching-service-community integration. The sample consisted of 14 students who were enrolled in the course. The similarities, distinctions between the contents and the central ideas of the narratives about the thematic category were observed. The speeches generated the units of analysis: expectation of integrated practices, reality of teamwork, organizational process, exchange of experiences and suggestions. The results obtained pointed to the distance between students' expectations and reality. The perceptions of the interviewees revealed that the work dynamics occurs without collective planning of the care actions and without interlocution with the teaching. The students suggested strategies to improve the teaching-service-community integration and to promote the formative process.