Health Occupation Education
Career Specialty Module
Welcome to a career in
occupational therapy
Beth P. Velde Ph.D., OTR/l
Associate Professor
Department of Occupational Therapy
East Carolina University
Sponsored by
Eastern Area Health Education Center
In collaboration with
Office of Generalist Programs at
East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine
and
The North Carolina Department of
Public Instruction
What is occupational therapy?
“The use of purposeful
activities or
interventions to
achieve functional
outcomes.”
AOTA (1993)
Ten Ways to Define Occupational Therapy
1.
Occupational therapy is working collaboratively with people to facilitate
independence and wellness in an individual's life.
2.
Occupational therapy is a "client-centered" approach to achieve everyday health
through functional activities.
3.
Occupational therapy assists people of all ages with disabilities to become
independent in their daily activities.
4.
Occupational therapy promotes health and well-being of individuals in society
through participation in meaningful occupation.
5.
Occupational therapy is the promotion of lifelong health and well-being to facilitate
productive living.
6.
Occupational therapy means improving the quality of life by positively affecting
everyday activities.
7.
Occupational therapy practitioners help individuals develop skills necessary to
perform daily activities.
8.
Occupational therapy provides the tools to break down barriers to an individual's
independence.
9.
Occupational therapy provides you with a balance of independence at home, at
work, and at play.
10. Occupational therapy teaches "skills for the job of living.”
http://www.aota.org/featured/area2/links/link02g.asp
Two key words in occupational
therapy.
Occupation: activities
of everyday life that
are named, organized,
and given value and
meaning by an
individual and a
culture. Everything a
person does to occupy
him/her self.
Law, Polatajko, Baptiste & Townsend (1997).
Activity--a universally
recognized
phenomenon that
involves materials,
form and structure,
action processes, real
and symbolic
meaning.
Velde & Fidler, 2002
The difference between
occupation and activity.
Think of the activity riding a bicycle. You should
picture a two wheeled vehicle that is operated by
pushing your feet in a reciprocating motion on a
set of peddles. That is an activity. Now, put
yourself on the bicycle. You will see a specific
bike, with a seat to accommodate your size. It
might be a mountain bike. You see yourself riding
it down the path at a state park. That is an
occupation!
Outcomes of occupational
therapy interventions.
Adaptation
Occupational Performance
Role Competence
Health and wellness
Quality of life
Life satisfaction
Prevention
Adaptation
The change you make
in your response to an
occupational challenge
when your usual
response does not
work.
Imagine that you have
broken your right hand
and you are right handed.
Your favorite activity is
surfing the internet.
Adaptation describes what
you would do to continue
surfing the net by using
the computer keyboard
with your left hand.
Occupational Performance
The ability to do the occupations you want
to do. This ability includes your skills and
having the proper environmental supports.
Those environmental supports include
equipment and materials, money, a space,
and others to play with.
Role competence
Roles include occupational roles such as
racquetball player and lifelong roles such as
mother, brother, cousin, and husband. To be
competent in these roles you need to know
and be able to perform the behaviors that
your culture attributes to these roles.
Health and wellness
A state of physical, mental, emotional and
social well-being.
Quality of Life
Discrepancy between one’s
personal attainment of physical well
being, material well being, social
well being, emotional well being &
productive well being and the
degree of mastery and the norm’s
for one’s own culture.
Prevention
Promotion of a healthy lifestyle that allows
a person to achieve personal quality of life.
A lifestyle is the day to day activities that
represent your beliefs, attitudes and values.
These activities include your habits and the
routines you follow--the way you organize
your time.
Intervention
According to the Occupational Therapy Practice
Framework (2002), occupational therapists work
with clients using the following approaches.
•
•
•
•
•
Create/promote
Restore/establish
Maintain
Modify
Prevent
Create/Promote
Using activities to
increase a person’s ability
to lead a healthy lifestyle.
• Parenting classes
• Fitness classes
• Stress management
For example, the AOTA is
currently leading a
program to promote safe
and efficient use of
backpacks in the schools.
Teaching a skill or ability that a
person has lost due to a health
impairment or that the person
did not acquire during the
developmental process.
• For example, people who
experience a traumatic brain injury
(TBI) may have trouble reading
because they are unable to track
the words left to right in a line. To
restore that skill, an OT might
have them practice by using a cue
such as a pencil to trace the
movement and an anchor down the
sides of the page, such as a bold
red line.
Restore/Establish
Maintain
Provision of supports so
the person can maintain
skills and abilities learned
during the intervention
process.
• Maintaining upper
extremity strength
developed during establish
approach in order to
continue independent
wheelchair transfers.
Prevent
Using intervention to prevent future
problems in persons with or without health
impairments.
• Using ergonomic principles to develop an office
station that will prevent further injury to a person
with carpal tunnel syndrome.
Who works in occupational
therapy?
Occupational therapists
• http://www.aota.org/featured/area2/links/link09
.asp
Occupational therapy assistants
• http://www.aota.org/featured/area2/links/link11.
asp
Where do occupational therapists
and occupational therapy
assistants work?
Hospitals
Private clinics
Schools
Nursing homes
Home health agencies
Community organizations
Mental health centers
Activity
Visit the website for the Occupational
handbook and investigate the outlook for
occupational therapy as a profession
http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos078.htm
What do occupational therapists and
occupational therapy assistants get paid?
Working on balance at
school.
“Full-time employed OTs report a median annual
salary of $45,000 at their primary setting; full-time
OTAs report a median of $30,000. Part-time OTs
report a median salary of $26,875; part-time OTAs
report a median of $18,928. Average income for fulltime and part-time OTs has remained flat since 1997;
average income for full-time OTAs has dropped a
small amount since 1997. Only part-time OTAs post a
noticeable income increase since 1997. Full-time OTs
report a median hourly wage of $23.71 for their
primary employment setting, about the same reported
in 1997. Declines are seen in average hourly wages
for part-time OTs and full-time OTAs. The strongest
long-term increases are seen for part-time OTAs. OT
average salary increases from a low of $37,243 for
those with one year or less of experience to a high of
$53,568 for those with 15 or more years of
experience. Average income peaks at $63,254 for
those OTs who have a Doctorate.”
http://www.otjoblink.org/links/link04.asp
Activity
Visit the American Occupational Therapy
Association website and review the AOTA
2000 Salary Survey.
http://www.otjoblink.org/links/link04.asp
How do I become an
Occupational Therapist?
You will need a
college degree.
You must pass a
national certification
exam.
You may need to have
a state practice license.
Beginning in 2006, the
entry level degree for
a registered
occupational therapist
is a post baccalaureate
degree. To find the
colleges and
universities who offer
such degrees, visit the
AOTA website.
How do I become an
occupational therapy assistant?
You will need a
community college
degree.
You will need to pass
a national certification
exam.
You may need a state
license to practice.
Visit the AOTA
website for
information about
educational programs,
certification and
licensure.
What special skills and abilities
do occupational therapists learn?
Activity Analysis
Occupational therapists can
analyze a complex activity
to understand its structure,
rules, environment,
materials and objects, real
& symbolic meaning, and
action processes. When
they compare the analysis
to a person, they are able to
determine why the person
may be having trouble
participating in the activity
and find ways to help.
Assessment of Domains
Occupational therapists
know how to use activities
to assess an individual
within the domains of
affective, motor,
cognitive, and spiritual. In
this picture the
occupational therapist is
using a leather lacing
activity to assess the
cognitive domain.
Modify
One way to help is to
modify the activity,
the materials used in
the activity or the
environment. In this
picture, the person is
using a special knife
called a rocker knife to
cut meat in the pan.
Restore/Establish
When an occupational therapist has
determined that a person is having trouble
with an activity because of a problem in a
particular domain, s/he may work on
strengthening the components within the
domain. The following slides show ways
the therapist may use assessments to
determine problems and to identify
progress.
Testing hand strength
Occupational
therapists know how
to use tools such as a
hand dynamometer to
test for hand strength.
Range of Motion
Occupational
therapists know how
to use a finger
goniometer to assess
the range of motion of
each finger.
Grip and Grasp
Occupational
therapists use a pinch
meter to determine
how much strength a
person has when the
use a pinch grasp.
Splint
Occupational therapists
make and modify splints
to provide support for
persons who are
recovering from a variety
of injuries. This is usually
used to prepare the person
for engagement in
occupation or to support
an area of the body that
needs protection.