9. OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST
JOB DESCRIPTION
Overview
Occupational therapists (OTs) work with
people with physical, developmental, or emotional problems who need specialized
care to live independent, productive, and satisfying lives. In contrast to talking therapies,
interventions tend to be action-oriented.
For example, for clients with physical disabilities, OTs might teach
self-care skills, skills needed for employment, or skills necessary for caring
for a home and family. With clients
with psychological disorders, the OT program might involve assistance in time
management, working productively with others, and leisure time. OTs can be found in a variety of medical
settings, including general, rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals; nursing
homes; community agencies and mental health centers; and home health care agencies.
Typical Job Duties
• Assessing of physical, mental, or
emotional deficiencies, especially in patients who have lost function due to
illness or injury
• Counseling patients about potential
impact of their disabilities on occupational performance or emotional
well-being
• Teaching physically disabled patients
skills needed to perform the activities of daily life
• Helping patients with emotional
disturbances develop coping skills
• Analyzing job task requirements for
an injured worker
• Advising employers, family members,
or teachers about adapting clients’ work, home, or school environments
Job Outlook
Much faster than average job growth is
expected for several reasons: Medical advances have enabled seriously disabled
patients in need of rehabilitative services to survive, the U.S. population is
aging and many disabling conditions occur frequently in the elderly, and
legislation that mandates greater attention to the needs of people with
disabilities is now more strongly enforced.
OT is ranked 12th on the BLS list of
the 30 fastest growing occupations. It
was not studied by the MSU researchers.
Potential Earnings
The average starting salary for new
graduates in 1995 was $38,000. The
median salary of experienced occupational therapists is estimated to be
$45,000.
TRAINING
Professional Degree Required
The entry-level degree for an OT is
either a bachelor’s degree in OT or a professional master’s degree in OT. Students attending colleges or universities
with no undergraduate OT program would likely opt for the latter route, as this
approach allows students with degrees in fields other than OT to gain the
knowledge and credentials necessary to enter the field. Master’s degree programs typically require
two years of full-time study, including 2-3 summers. This time period includes at least six months of field work
experience.
How to Find Programs
Education programs must be accredited
by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the
American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). AOTA maintains a list of these programs that it will send for
free; the complete list can also be viewed via the AOTA web page (addresses
below).
Entrance Requirements/Admissions
Entrance requirements differ across
programs, but programs typically require course work in biology, psychology,
and sociology. Frequently-required
prerequisite courses (i.e., courses that should be taken as an undergraduate)
for master’s programs in OT include anatomy, physiology, life span human
development, abnormal psychology, statistics, and family and society. However, schools vary considerably in their
requirements, so obtain information from schools of interest as early as
possible (e.g., your sophomore or junior year of school) in order to plan your
schedule carefully. In addition,
schools tend to strongly recommend or require volunteer, internship, or paid
work experiences with persons with disabilities (physical or
psychological). This experience requirement
is not to be taken lightly; at one highly competitive program (UNC-Chapel
Hill), admitted students had an average of 598 contact hours of experience with
occupational therapy practice.
Admission to OT school is
competitive. Master’s programs typically
receive over 200 applications per year, while only admitting 20-30
students. Successful applicants tend to
have undergraduate GPAs in the 3.2-4.0 range and combined GRE scores of
1100-1200. In addition to grades and
GRE scores, other factors important taken into account when evaluating
applicants include work or volunteer experiences, multi-cultural experience,
recommendations, and knowledge about OT.
Also note that state schools often give preference to in-state
residents, so consider applying to public schools in your home state first.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Print Materials/Organizations
American Occupational Therapy
Association (AOTA), 4720 Montgomery Lane, P.O. Box 31220, Bethesda, MD
20824-1220. 301/652-AOTA. Will send free packet of introductory
materials, including directory of all accredited OT programs.
Internet Resources
American Occupational Therapy
Association (AOTA) home page: http://www.aota.org/
American Occupational Therapy
Foundation: http://www.aotf.org/html/ot_links.html
AOTA state-by-state listing of
accredited programs (click on “Education Programs”):
http://www.aota.org/students/