Educating entry-level occupational therapy students in gerontology.
The need for gerontic occupational therapists is increasing as the number of elders increases. The practice of including gerontologic content in occupational therapy entry-level curricula is relatively new. This article provides a rationale for including gerontologic content in entry-level occupational therapy curricula and presents the results of a brief survey conducted in November 1990 of all accredited and developing entry-level professional occupational therapy programs in the United States. Seventy-one percent of the entry-level programs responded. All of the responding programs included some gerontologic content in their curricula, and 82% of the responding programs indicated that the amount of gerontologic content in the required curriculum had increased in the past 5 years. Other gerontologic elements examined were courses offered and topics included in entry-level curricula, textbooks used, and gerontic fieldwork requirements.
Occupational Therapy Department, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington 98416.
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D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D003625:Data Collection; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D012576:Schools, Health Occupations / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States