Forging Connections with USC-PKUHSC Peer Exchanges
November 19, 2021
The start of the 2021-22 school year marked the start of another semester of USC-PKUHSC Peer Exchange, with three sessions attended by a total of 16 students from both schools.
China Initiative Community and Partners Global Initiatives International
As the 2021-22 school year began, so did a fresh new start to the USC-PKUHSC Peer Exchange. For the Fall 2021 academic semester, a total of 16 students from both USC and PKUHSC committed to participating in three virtual Peer Exchange events. This year, the Peer Exchange Planning Committee consists of the USC Chan China Initiative doctoral residents (Calvin Lee and Christopher Chu), USC Chan Global Initiatives doctoral residents (Brendan LaScala and Maggie Chen), as well as two USC master’s students (Alison Chang and Leah King). To reiterate, these events are centered around the goals of forging connections between the two institutions and learning about occupational therapy in cross-cultural settings.
The first Peer Exchange of the Fall 2021 semester was held in Sept. 2021, focused on introductions of all attendees and icebreaker activities. Students shared their perspectives on what they were looking forward to in the Peer Exchange, as well as how they hoped to foster continuing relationships with friends overseas.
PKUHSC and USC students collaboratively brainstormed community guidelines to abide by for the Fall 2021 Peer Exchange.
PKUHSC and USC students wrote about what they want out of the Peer Exchange in the first exchange of Fall 2021.
The second peer exchange, held in Oct. 2021, focused on a discussion of health and wellness, occupational balance and occupational harmony. PKUHSC and USC students collaborated to present a Western model of wellness, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)’s 8 Dimensions of Wellness, and an Eastern model of wellness, Dr. Yijun Liu’s 5 Dimensions of Occupational Engagement. Students used both models to guide their discussion on what wellness and occupational harmony mean to them, as well as how these models relate to and differ from each other. Further, students were encouraged to share within smaller and larger groups on how they could set wellness goals based on the presented models.
For the second Peer Exchange of the Fall 2021 semester, PKUHSC and USC students used Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 8 Dimensions of Wellness and Dr. Yijun Liu’s 5 Dimensions of Occupational Engagement to participate in perspective sharing on wellness and occupational balance.
PKUHSC students (Zhixin Liu and Yang Li) and USC students (Brittany Inouye and Maggie Chen) wrote down which dimensions from both the Western and Eastern models resonated with them and why, as well as what goals they had for themselves moving forward.
The third and last Peer Exchange of the Fall 2021 semester was held in Nov. 2021 and centered around professional identity and interprofessional collaboration. PKUHSC and USC students were introduced to what role professional identity can play in the occupational therapy profession, as well as opportunities in non-traditional and role-emerging practice areas. Additionally, students were exposed to the importance of interprofessional collaboration and how to better promote it in the American and Chinese contexts.
One of the activities in this session involved engaging with discussion questions on differences and similarities with professional identity and interprofessional collaboration in the US and China. Students also created “OT Elevator Pitches” within groups to describe occupational therapy for those who may not know.
Student groups got very creative with their OT Elevator Pitches, describing what occupational therapy is to family members, healthcare professionals, and so on.
The Peer Exchange will continue into the Spring 2022 semester. We look forward to another exciting series of Peer Exchange events in Spring 2022!
PKUHSC and USC students “Fight On!” during the last Peer Exchange of Fall 2021.
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