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Background and Objective: Clinical education is a major component of the occupational therapy curriculum that enables students to experience professional roles in a real environment. This research was conducted to find out the students' experiences in the first fieldwork education Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were performed with eight occupational therapy students which had passed the first semester of clinical education in three departments at Shahid Beheshti and Tehran Medical Sciences Universities and the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences. The interviews were transcribed line by line and were analyzed according to Graneheim's content analysis approach. Results: All eight interviews were analyzed and three main themes were identified: educators and clinical education, educational program and educational environment. Subthemes included importance of initial sessions, experience of communication with trainees, need for supervision and feedback, completing documentation, lecture as educational strategy, variation in student clinical evaluation, gap between theoretical units and clinical education, clinical observation unit as ineffective course, role of planning, settings and its physical structure, and staff as influencing factors. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that occupational therapy students have experienced problems in their first sessions at educational clinics. Therefore, occupational therapy education programmers should try to address these problems. Further studies are also necessary to enhance the experience of the educators, administrators and other elements involved in this field.

Keywords: Clinical Education, Occupational Therapy Student, Qualitative Research

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