Occupational therapy students' perceptions of occupational therapy

Background/aims: An understanding of students perceptions of occupational therapy on entry is required to recognise how professional socialisation occurs through curriculum. Findings pertain to a qualitative study investigating students perceptions of occupational therapy upon entry to two occupational therapy programmes in Australia. Methods: Students commencing Bachelor of Occupational Therapy and Masters of Occupational Therapy Studies programmes participated in the study (n = 462). A purpose-designed questionnaire was distributed to students in the first lecture of each programme. Preliminary analysis comprised identification of keywords/phrases and coding categories were generated from patterns of keywords. Frequency counts and percentages of keywords/phrases within categories were completed. Results: Students responses were categorised as what occupational therapists do; how they do it; why they do it; and who they work with. In what occupational therapists do students frequently described helping people. Both undergraduate and graduate entry masters students used the term rehabilitation to describe how occupational therapy is done, with graduate entry students occasionally responding with through occupation and modifying the environment. Students perceived the why of occupational therapy as getting back to everyday activities, with some students emphasising returning to normal activities or life. Regarding the who category, students also thought occupational therapists worked with people with an injury or disability. Conclusions: Students entered their occupational therapy programmes with perceptions consistent with the general publics views of occupational therapy. However, graduate entry students exposed to a pre-reading package prior to entry had more advanced occupational therapy concepts than undergraduate students.