The entry-level nature of the program means that the program prepares students to enter the workforce. Occupational therapy is an evidence-based health care profession deeply rooted in science that helps people across the lifespan adapt to injury, illness, or disability. Occupational therapy helps people function in all of their environments (e.g., home, work, school, and community) and addresses the physical, psychological, and cognitive aspects of their well-being through engagement in occupation (everyday activities). Thus, the program seeks to produce a graduate who has acquired the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for entry into the profession of occupational therapy.
The occupational therapy curriculum was developed with the University’s mission, mission-aligned core instructional methods (Active Learning, Applied Learning, Authentic Learning, Inclusive Pedagogy/Andragogy, and Student-centered) and Institutional Learning Outcomes (Skills, Knowledge, Innovation, Responsibility, and G.R.I.T. or growth mindset, relationship building, intentional learning, tenacity) as integral parts that are central to the educational process. The profile of the occupational therapy graduate as envisioned by the program is depicted below.
The curricular content is grounded in the history, theories, and science of occupation; it is this crucial foundational content that is addressed in the initial phase of the curriculum sequence. Its early placement establishes students’ perspectives as occupational therapists, and “occupation” as the encompassing context in which all other content is perceived and integrated. Occupation is reiterated, applied, and expanded within each later course, with increasing complexity and elaboration. The initial phase of the curriculum sequence also includes advanced studies of the science of the human body and the conditions that affect it.
Content related to applied science/conditions (e.g., mental and physical conditions) are integrated throughout the curriculum to provoke learning of client-specific occupational therapy issues. This organization requires that students relate information across areas of practice and diagnostic groups, and integrate learning from earlier courses into successively more complex treatment planning situations, ultimately preparing them to address the complex situations facing occupational therapists in practice and research.
During the final phases of the curriculum sequence, students complete two 12-week clinical fieldwork in practice settings, some of which may be rural areas, and an in-depth doctoral experiential component or Capstone. The Capstone Experience, requires the student to apply the knowledge and skills developed in courses and clinical fieldwork rotations to the design and implementation of an applied and innovative capstone project in response to an identified need in the field.
The mission of Utah Tech’s Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) Program is to prepare competent, inclusive, and resilient occupational therapists who pursue lifelong learning for personal and professional growth as creators, innovators, and evidence-based caring practitioners that enhance the health and well-being of local and global communities.
To rise as a preeminent leader in occupational therapy education by offering a program of study that puts students first and enables exceptional student learning through reflection, discovery, and innovation.
