OTA 130 - Professional Advocacy Experience

1. Explain to the community of interest (e.g., consumers, potential employers, colleagues, third-party payers, regulatory boards, policymakers, and the public) the distinct nature of occupation and the evidence that occupation supports performance, participation, health, wellness, and well-being.
2. Identify and communicate to the occupational therapist the need to design community programs to support occupational performance for persons, groups, or populations.
3. Identify and analyze the influence of contextual factors and current federal, state, and local policy issues and structures on the delivery of occupational therapy services for persons, groups, or populations and social systems as they relate to the practice of occupational therapy.
4. Explain the role and responsibility of the practitioner to advocate for occupational therapy including changes in service delivery policies, effecting changes in the system, recognizing opportunities in emerging practice areas, and advocating for opportunities to expand the occupational therapy assistant’s role. Articulate the distinct knowledge and skills of occupational therapy practitioners to the community of interest.
5. Identify the need and demonstrate the ability to participate in the development, support, promotion, and management of service delivery options.

1. Discuss the basic tenets of occupational therapy.
2. Conduct and document a screening and evaluation process.
3. Intervene and implement occupational therapy processes.
4. Describe the context of occupational therapy services.
5. Assist in the management of occupational therapy services.
6. Discuss the importance of ethics, values and responsibilities in the field of occupational therapy.

• Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.
• Responsibility - Responsibility encompasses those behaviors and dispositions necessary for students to be effective members of a community. This outcome is designed to help students recognize the value of a commitment to those responsibilities which will enable them to work successfully individually and with others.