title: A national evaluation of the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards (1994): a multistakeholder perspective.
abstract: This paper summarises results from an evaluation of the adequacy and utility of the Australian Competency Standards for Entry-Level Occupational Therapists (OT AUSTRALIA, 1994a). It comprised a two-part study, incorporating an online survey of key national stakeholders (n = 26), and 13 focus groups (n = 152) conducted throughout Australia with occupational therapy clinicians, academics, OT AUSTRALIA association and Occupational Therapy Registration Board representatives, as well as university program accreditors. The key recommendations were that: (i) urgent revision to reflect contemporary practice, paradigms, approaches and frameworks is required; (ii) the standards should exemplify basic competence at graduation (not within two years following); (iii) a revision cycle of five years is required; (iv) the Australian Qualifications Framework should be retained, preceded by an introduction describing the scope and nature of occupational therapy practice in the national context; (v) access to the standards should be free and unrestricted to occupational therapists, students and the public via the OT AUSTRALIA (national) website; (vi) the standards should incorporate a succinct executive summary and additional tools or templates formatted to enable occupational therapists to develop professional portfolios and create working documents specific to their workplace; and (vii) language must accommodate contextual variation while striking an appropriate balance between providing instruction and encouraging innovation in practice.
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia. s.rodger@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodger
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Banks
authors.forename: Mia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Kay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martinez
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation / Q000592:standards; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D017144:Focus Groups; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000592:standards*; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*