PREPARING OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY STUDENTS FOR FUTURE ROLES

Background: As societal changes occur, new skills are demanded from entry-level occupational therapists. To meet these demands, occupational therapy (OT) students need to feel secure in taking on new roles in their future... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
As societal changes occur, new skills are demanded from entry-level occupational therapists. To meet these demands, occupational therapy (OT) students need to feel secure in taking on new roles in their future workplaces. The course “The Occupational Therapist as Supervisor, Entrepreneur and Leader” at Umeå University focuses on introducing the students to those emerging roles and on building up skills and knowledge to successfully take on those roles.

Educational Philosophy or theory:
The course is built on the principles of student-led learning and provides an environment in which students can apply and test theory on real-life problems. This enables students to control their own learning process and keep up a high level of motivation.

Pedagogy / educational approach(es) used:
The course provides the students with learning opportunities to take on various roles and to develop professional skills in a safe environment, to then test them outside the university walls. During the course's three assignments, students try out being a leader in project management, an entrepreneur in promoting new ideas, and a supervisor during coaching and facilitation.

Evaluation:
Student perspectives on how the course contributed to building up confidence in their ability to work within non-traditional fields in OT are discussed. Perspectives from right after the course and from one year later will be presented.

Application to Education and /or practice:
Understanding perspectives over time can help course leaders and occupational therapy program developers to further refine their teaching, in order to prepare students for future roles in practice.