First year occupational therapy students: Profile and perceptions

Abstract

A class of first year occupational therapy students were surveyed to explore their backgrounds, attitudes to disability and perceptions of the characteristics of a successful occupational therapist, factors underlying their decision to study occupational therapy, and course-related and career expectations. Of 83 students, most were female, under 20 years of age and from a middle-class background. Their attitudes towards people with disability were generally positive. Their decision to study occupational therapy was largely made at the end of their formal schooling and was based on altruistic and practical influences. Their expectations of the course appeared accurate and, in terms of their future career, most students expressed a desire to work in either paediatric or adult physical areas, These students will be surveyed again during the course and as graduate therapists to monitor their attitudes and the unfolding of their career paths. K E Y W 0 R D S attitudes, career choice, course and career, expectations, student background.

Exposure to occupational therapy as a factor influencing recruitment to the profession

“…The current research has the opportunity to consider factors relevant to career choice in the Australian context. Additionally, occupational therapy demographics identifies men as less likely to enter the profession (ACT Health Allied Health Advisor's Office, ; AIHW Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ; Fleming et al ., ) the current research has sufficient numbers to be able to consider men as a discrete group – whereas acknowledging the numbers are small and limited conclusions possible.…”

“…The number of male participants in the sample was consistent with international research (Craik & Zaccaria, ; Craik et al ., ), although slightly higher than currently registered as occupational therapists in Australia (8.26%) (Occupational Therapy Board Australia, ). Although there were few students born overseas or who spoke a language other than English at home, this was also consistent with the previous demographics of occupational therapy research in Australia (Fleming et al ., ), which may be less ethnically diverse than occupational therapy professionals elsewhere (Craik & Zaccaria). However, it remains unclear, like in speech‐language pathology (Byrne, ), why certain groups of people are less likely to enter occupational therapy, such as men and people from Indigenous and minority backgrounds.…”

“…Compared to other Australian research these results were marginally higher than Fleming et al . () who reported 47% had entered occupational therapy straight after high school. However, the proportion of mature aged students in UK studies was noticeably higher, and this may reflect differences in the occupational therapy programs admissions procedures and diversity of routes into entry level programs.…”

“…Madigan () used a work values inventory and found that both occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant students identified altruism as their highest ranking work value. It has since been well reported that occupational therapy students enter the programme influenced by their desire to help others (Byrne, ; Cooperstein & Barker Schwartz, ; Craik & Wyatt‐Rollason, ; Davis, ; Fleming et al ., ; Meredith, Merson & Strong, ; Roney, Meredith & Strong, ) and regard helping others as a major component of the work (Turpin, Rodger & Hall, ).…”

La formación de pregrado de terapia ocupacional en Chile visto desde la perspectiva de los estudiantes: ¿cuál es la percepción de necesidades que tienen los estudiantes de terapia ocupacional en relación a su proceso de formación?

“…En la actualidad, existen 18 universidades y 1 instituto profesional que imparten la carrera de Terapia Ocupacional en distintas sedes a lo largo de Chile. De estas universidades, sólo REVISTA CHILENA DE TERAPIA OCUPACIONAL bilidad cultural (Cheung, Shah & Muncer, 2002;Kale & Hong, 2007;Murden et al, 2008;Whiteford, 1995) y Terapia Ocupacional como profesión (Bjorklund, 1999;Fleming et al, 1997;McKenna et al, 2001). Asimismo, se encontró un limitado número de estudios en idioma español que han investigado las actitudes y percepciones de los estudiantes hacia diversos temas, como por ejemplo; el concepto de discapacidad (Mella & Gonzá-lez, 2007), las contribuciones de la investigación cientí ca a la formación profesional de T.O.…”