Teaching Work Rehabilitation: Educating Occupational Therapy Students Through Experiential Interdisciplinary Community based Assignments

Teaching future occupational therapists how to merge occupational therapy practice in the community through experiential learning situations will increase the likelihood of them seeking out opportunities to practice in... [ view full abstract ]

Teaching future occupational therapists how to merge occupational therapy practice in the community through experiential learning situations will increase the likelihood of them seeking out opportunities to practice in non-traditional settings. Community-based assignments also highlight occupational therapists' ability to treat individuals as well as populations. This poster will share how this author designed a work rehabilitation class around acquisition and application of health promotion concepts and work rehabilitation information with a community-based experiential assignment. Targeting a high risk population within our university (the dental students and faculty) provided an accessible population to accomplish our goals. Incorporating class concepts and assignments around primary, secondary, and tertiary health promotion interventions provided the students with an excellent opportunity to learn about work rehabilitation in a creative and interesting manner which facilitated mastery of both occupational therapy and professional skills. Lectures, laboratory experiences, and assignments were intentionally focused on preparing the OT students for a consultative interdisciplinary experience applying current evidence about the high risk dental population, developing and administering a risk assessment questionnaire, performing a modified job analysis with risk factor identification, ergonomic concepts and solutions, and development of an educational handout as an intervention tool. Throughout the process, collaboration between the dental and occupational therapy programs was essential and provided an excellent opportunity to learn about and from each other. Future research opportunities were identified and other collaborative opportunities resulted from this experience.