Eastern Washington University
College of Science, Health, & Engineering
Department of Occupational Therapy
Curriculum Design of the Occupational Therapy Program
The curriculum of the Eastern Washington University Occupational Therapy
Program is divided into three domains and is grounded in scholarly-based learning combined with program theory evaluation.
The three domains include: 1) exploration and awareness of self and understanding of the continuum of occupational performance; 2) an examination of occupational performance deficits and therapeutic use of self; and 3) application of knowledge in emerging practice areas including health promotion and management of contextual factors. Scholarly-based learning is the integration of professional knowledge with the best available empirical evidence in making decisions about how to deliver instruction. It employs the evidence of inquiry, and best practice ideas to assist students in their efforts to promote innovation and transform performance. Program theory evaluation integrates professional understanding with the best available empirical evidence in making decisions about how to deliver instruction that improves performance and sustains improvement.
Domain 1: Exploration of self and optimal occupational performance.
In the first year of the curriculum, students take courses that provide a base of foundational knowledge on which to build in the second year. Foundational knowledge includes an exploration into normal occupational performance, based on the assumption that future clinicians must have a substantial understanding of themselves and optimal function before they are able to fully comprehend pathology. Students are given multiple opportunities for exploring the importance of occupation in their own lives, including hands-on experiences to examine performance components, performance areas, and performance contexts.
Through this study of self and occupation, students have a deeper appreciation of occupation and its therapeutic benefits.
To better understand the relationship between normal occupational performance and the person, students take courses in the basic sciences including anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, and neuroscience. During this foundational year, students are also introduced to interdisciplinary education by participating in classes with other health professions students. Interdisciplinary training provides students with opportunities to compare and contrast the core values and roles of occupational therapy with other professions, building skills for future collaborative relationships with other health professionals.

In order to understand the role of the occupational therapy professional and the provision of services, student learn about the profession’s scope of practice, professional ethics, and the role of both professional behavior and ongoing competency development in their future career.
Domain 2: Examination of occupational performance deficits and therapeutic use of self.
The first Level I clinical affiliation occurs within the first year, allowing for further experience with individuals involved in typical and atypical occupations, application of professional behaviors, and interaction with other health professionals. Overlapping the first and second year of the occupational therapy curriculum, the educational emphasis shifts from exploration of normal occupation to understanding pathology and its impact on the continuum of occupational performance. Students investigate the tools and strategies used to enhance occupational performance, including: theories and frames of reference for client evaluation and intervention, task analysis, and therapeutic use of self.
Evaluation and treatment techniques are taught with an emphasis on clientcentered practice. Students apply knowledge in the hands-on laboratory exercises, development of professional resource portfolios, practical examinations, and clinical experiences designed to integrate knowledge into professional competencies. Students identify occupational problems, prescribe interventions and evaluate the outcomes. In addition, during the second year students continue to participate in interdisciplinary Level I fieldwork, begin professional projects, and identify service delivery models.
Domain 3: Application of knowledge in emerging practice areas including health promotion and management of contextual factors
In the final year of the occupational therapy curriculum, students extend their knowledge to include the development, management, and provision of services of emerging practice arenas such as wellness and health promotion, management of contextual factors, and services in rural or underserved areas.
The future role of the occupational therapist is to be the program developer, administrator, and program coordinator in a variety of settings, including both traditional, medical settings and non-traditional, community based practices where roles may be established or emerging. Economic, political, and social movements have expanded community based service delivery systems, mandating that students be prepared to lead occupational therapy in new directions to ensure utilization of occupational therapy services.

The curriculum has specifically designed a series of courses to address the foundational skills for the development and provision of services in communitybased or emerging practice areas. A two-course emerging practice series, presented in the second year of professional studies, is specifically designed to provide students with learning experiences for developing an entry-level understanding of some of the following regarding emerging and communitybased practices in occupational therapy: the context and potential roles of occupational therapy in rural and underserved regions, occupational therapy services in business and industry environments, the change and adaptation process of the OT profession, political and sociocultural issues effecting health care services and access to those services, skills in grant writing, and basic knowledge and skills for entrepreneurial and business management. Carefully selected community experiences enhance students’ understanding of communitybased services and the potential contribution of occupational therapy services for promoting participation in desired occupations in a variety of contexts.
Students learn how persons live with disability over time, integrating knowledge gained in the first year of the curriculum about pathology and the continuum of occupational performance. Continued practicum experiences and Level II
Fieldwork experiences provide further opportunities to synthesize learning in a clinical environment and to closely collaborate with other health practitioners and professionals.
Main themes of the Occupational Therapy Program
Several fundamental themes related to the mission and philosophy of the Eastern
Washington University Occupational Therapy Program are imbedded throughout the entire curriculum. These key concepts influence each of the three domains and application of the themes may be traced through individual courses in the curriculum. The main themes are as follows:
 Diversity
The Program's curriculum is designed to prepare occupational therapy students as competent practitioners in traditional and emerging fields of health and rehabilitation care environments. Training for multicultural interaction and competence is included in the general university requirements and is infused throughout the professional curriculum. During the first year of the curriculum, the professional program will provide the foundation for cultural competence through both theoretical and practical experiences.
Wells (1994) suggests that through education in cultural competency,
"students will acknowledge and understand the impact of ethnicity race and culture on occupational therapy theories and treatment processes" (p. 10).
Throughout all occupational therapy courses, students gain an appreciation

for the broad diversity of culture, interests, roles, abilities, and opportunities prevalent in society.
 Service Delivery in rural and underserved areas
The Pacific Northwest has considerable rural, underserved practice areas.
Graduates of the Eastern Washington Occupational Therapy Program are likely to provide occupational therapy services in these rural settings. In addition, it is highly conceivable that graduates may be the only occupational therapy practitioner serving that area. With this in mind, students learn the resources they will need to function autonomously and effectively, while still maintaining professional, ethical, and collaborative behaviors. These resources are intended to provide a foundation for entry-level services in these environments.
 Interdisciplinary education and practice
Participating as a valued member of an interdisciplinary team that promotes health and provides care to diverse populations requires OT practitioners to have an understanding of occupational performance, personal values and beliefs, knowledge and respect for diversity and the common good, and selfdirected life-long learning (Purnell & Paulamka, 1998).Working closely with multiple health professionals instills in students a collaborative sense of teamwork that ultimately serves to improve client care. Interdisciplinary education provides an opportunity to appreciate the core values, philosophies, and treatment interventions unique to each discipline.
 Scholarly-based, student-centered learning and self-evaluative capacities
In the common threads discussion above regarding curriculum design the concept of scholarly-based learning is introduced. This key element in the curriculum is designed to enhance and advance the students' abilities to incorporate elements of problem solving, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence in practice. The scholarly-based process has been specifically designed within a number of the core professional courses.
The concept of student centered learning drives the occupational therapy curriculum. Students benefit most from active, experiential learning including laboratory experiences, case-based problem solving exercises, fieldwork experiences, and participation in projects and discussions. Students have the capacity to direct their learning, through methods such as expressing self interest in project and assignments and developing professional resource portfolios, rather than being dependent on the instructor for the provision of knowledge. Student centered learning results in competent professionals committed to life-long learning and client-centered practice.

Last, students’ professional development is integrated within the student advising process throughout the professional program. Students learn the value and the process of professional self evaluation and intentional development of professional skills and behavior during the first year.
Ongoing self-reflection, growth, and development are encouraged and monitored throughout the second year by each course instructor and student advisors.
 Understanding the unity of practice, education, research, and evaluation in professional development
Equally important to the process of the curriculum's influence upon the environment and communities outside of the University, is the shared educational process between the greater community of occupational therapist, health care practitioners and the faculty and staff. As described earlier, a dynamic relationship exists between the communities of education, practice, research and evaluation. These active relationships are reflected in the broad range of committees, organizations and consultants working alongside the OT Program in the curriculum design, development and revisions. The OT Program recognizes the critical importance of these dynamic interactive relationships for the ongoing development of excellence not only in the student's academic experience but also in the contribution to the occupational therapy profession and health care overall.
Each of the core theory and practice courses in the professional curriculum incorporates Fieldwork Level I experiences. Thus, students will have met and exceeded the 2006 Standards in this area before completion of their academic course of study prior to Fieldwork Level II. There are a number of additional courses that provide students with community-based experiences that are not considered Fieldwork Level I, but are designed to equally enhance the student's community-based learning experiences. These community experiences occur within the health and wellness course and the two-course series on emerging practice. The experiences are specifically chosen to expose students to the needs, opportunities, and challenges of community-based and emerging practices.
The research series provides students with the skills for understanding and evaluating research evidence and applicability for guiding best practice decision during evaluation and intervention processes. The required graduate research project further provides didactic and hands-on exposure to and experience with the research process and its importance to the growth and viability of the profession.