OTA 130 - Professional Advocacy Experience

1. Articulate to consumers, potential employers, colleagues, third-party payers, regulatory boards, policymakers, other audiences, and the general public both the unique nature of occupation as viewed by the profession of occupational therapy and the value of occupation support performance, participation, health, and well-being.
2. Discuss how occupational therapy history and occupational therapy theory, and the socio-political climate influence practice.
3. Describe the role of the occupational therapy assistant in care coordination, case management, and transition services in traditional and emerging practice environments.
4. Describe the contexts of health care, education, community, and social systems as they relate to the practice of occupational therapy.
5. Identify the potential impact of current policy issues and the social, economic, political, geographic, or demographic factors on the practice of occupational therapy.
6. Identify the role and responsibility of the practitioner to advocate for changes in service delivery policies, to effect changes in the system, and to recognize opportunities in emerging practice areas.
7. Identify the impact of contextual factors on the management and delivery of occupational therapy services.
8. Identify the systems and structures that create federal and state legislation and regulations and their implications and effect on practice.
9. Demonstrate the ability to participate in the development, marketing, and management of service delivery options.
10. Identify how scholarly activities can be used to evaluate professional practice, service delivery, and/or professional issues (e.g., Scholarship of Integration, Scholarship of Application, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning).
11. Promote occupational therapy by educating other professionals, service providers, consumers, third-party payers, regulatory bodies, and the public.
12. Explain and give examples of how the role of a professional is enhanced by knowledge of and involvement in international, national, state, and local occupational therapy associations and related professional associations.
13. Identify strategies to assist the consumer in gaining access to occupational therapy services.
14. Demonstrate professional advocacy by participating in organizations or agencies promoting the profession (e.g., AOTA, state occupational therapy associations, advocacy organizations).

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.