OTA 124 - Fundamentals of Gerontology

Credits: 3
Study of physical, emotional and social processes involved in normal aging, plus a brief study of the pathology associated with the aging process. Emphasizes techniques used in maintaining independence, adjusting to the special problems of aging and the utilization of community resources. Previously H SCI 104.

Enrollment Requirement: Enrollment in OTA program.

Course Fee: $6.50

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of:

   • The structure and function of the human body to include the biological and physical sciences, neurosciences, kinesiology, and biomechanics. 

   • Human development throughout the lifespan (infants, children, adolescents, adults, and older adults). Course content must include, but is not limited to, developmental psychology. 

   • Concepts of human behavior to include the behavioral sciences, social sciences, and science of occupation. 

2. Demonstrate knowledge of scientific evidence as it relates to the importance of balancing areas of occupation; the role of occupation in the promotion of health; and the prevention of disease, illness, and dysfunction for persons, groups, and populations. 
3. Demonstrate knowledge of the effects of disease processes including heritable diseases, genetic conditions, mental illness, disability, trauma, and injury on occupational performance. 
4. Apply knowledge of occupational therapy history, philosophical base, theory, and sociopolitical climate and their importance in meeting society’s current and future occupational needs as well as how these factors influence and are influenced by practice. 
5. Functional Mobility: Provide training in techniques to enhance functional mobility, including physical transfers, wheelchair management, and mobility devices. 
6. Dysphagia and Feeding Disorders: Demonstrate interventions that address dysphagia and disorders of feeding and eating, and train others in precautions and techniques while considering client and contextual factors. 
7. Community and Primary Care Programs: Identify and communicate to the occupational therapist the need to design community and primary care programs to support occupational performance for persons, groups, and populations. 
8. Effective Communication: Identify occupational needs through effective communication with patients, families, communities, and members of the interprofessional team in a responsive and responsible manner that supports a team approach to the promotion of health and wellness. 
9. Consultative Process: Engage in the consultative process with persons, groups, programs, organizations, or communities in collaboration with inter- and intraprofessional colleagues. 
10. Advocacy: Explain the role and responsibility of the practitioner to advocate for changes in service delivery policies, effect changes in the system, recognize opportunities in emerging practice areas, and advocate for opportunities to expand the occupational therapy assistant’s role.
11. Demonstrate skills of collaboration with occupational therapists and other professionals on therapeutic interventions.
12. Promote Occupational Therapy: Promote occupational therapy by educating other professionals, service providers, consumers, third-party payers, regulatory bodies, and the public. 

1. Demonstrate mastery of the occupational therapy foundational content requirements.
2. Discuss the basic tenets of occupational therapy.
3. Conduct and document a screening and evaluation process.
4. Intervene and implement occupational therapy processes.

• 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.