The Occupational Therapy Assistant program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA, 7501 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 510E Bethesda, MD 20814. ACOTE’S telephone number, c/o AOTA, is (301) 652-6611, and its web address is https://acoteonline.org).
Graduates of the program will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the Occupational Therapy Assistant administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA). In addition, most states require licensure to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination.
Please note: A felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or
attain state licensure.
Curriculum Design, Program Philosophy, Learning Outcomes
Institution Mission
We transform lives and communities through the power of discovery, learning and creative expression in an inclusive environment.
Occupational Therapy Assistant Program Mission
The OTA Program at KSU strives to transform students through the power of knowledge and the value of creative engagement, resulting in competent, high-quality professionals serving the needs of our community.
Program Philosophy
The OTA department at KSU believes in the role and power of occupations to impact the health and wellness of individuals, groups and populations. Humans are intrinsically motivated to successfully perform occupations for meaningful engagement in life. Mastery of occupations is usually achieved in the course of normal development through participation in a variety of contexts. “Occupational therapy is based on the belief that occupations are fundamental to health promotion and wellness, remediation or restoration, health maintenance, disease and injury prevention, and compensation and adaptation.” (AOTA, 2017). Mental or physical illness or disability may interrupt the ability or opportunity to successfully participate in occupations. Occupational therapy encourages and facilitates occupations and occupational roles through varied, client-centered approaches.
Occupational therapy uses occupation as both means and end; meaningful occupations are used with clinical reasoning as interventions, while also serving as goals of the occupational therapy process.
The program’s beliefs about how students learn are based on integrated concepts and theories of constructivism and spiral theories. Students learn when new knowledge is built upon and linked to previous knowledge, and then transformed and adapted based on new experiences. Learning occurs in a spiral fashion—concepts are addressed in repetition, with the addition of more detail and higher level of difficulty. “Students are active learners who are responsible for organizing and using knowledge” while faculty promote learning through facilitation of deep thinking, clinical reasoning and collaboration. (Iwasiw and Goldenberg, 2015) American Occupational Therapy Association. (2017). Philosophical base of occupational therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(Suppl. 2), 7112410045. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2017.716S06 Iwasiw, C. L., & Goldenberg, D. (2015). Curriculum development in nursing education (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Curriculum And Instructional Design
Kent State University’s Occupational Therapy Assistant program’s curriculum is designed to align on constructivist and spiral theories and emphasizes themes that the program has deemed of high importance to thread throughout the curriculum.
Since the program believes that learning is actively constructed as it is connected and related to existing knowledge and experiences, teaching of important program concepts is designed in this way. A spiral approach is used to build competence in important OT concepts. Course sequence, teaching/learning methods, and assessment measures are designed to reflect these curriculum constructs.
Course sequence reflects this design as students complete OTA 10003, an active hands-on lab involving teaching and learning of basic patient care skills such as vital signs and basic transfers and self-care techniques. Students are often able to connect these skills to their past experiences as caregivers, patients, or healthcare workers. These skills are presented and assessed as simple techniques at this level of the curriculum and are assessed via skill
competency tests.
As students progress to later semesters, OTA 20002 revisits these skills with additional layering of complexity. In this course, students complete vital signs relative to clients with cardiac issues, transfers for clients with weight- bearing restrictions, and self-care for clients with neurological deficits for example. They are able to compare this content with previous course content and concurrent fieldwork experiences to gain a deeper understanding. Students are assessed via a combination of skill competency tests and, later, a lab practical, which requires students to research and prepare a treatment session incorporating not only the previously taught skills, but also client factors and contexts, in preparation for Level II fieldwork and practice.
Finally, these same skills are readdressed in OTA 20006 in the final semester before Level II fieldwork. More advanced concepts and diagnoses are covered. Vital signs are considered again within the context of complex acute illness and polytrauma, while mobility and self-care techniques are applied to clients with spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries. Assessments are in the form of lab practical and written exams which require complex problem solving and application of previously learned content.
Teaching/learning methods are also advanced as the curriculum progresses. First year, 10000-level courses emphasis traditional teaching methods of assigned readings and instructor led lectures. Mastery of content is assessed primarily via written exams and skills competency tests. Second year, 20000-level courses require more advanced preparation for courses and a higher level of independent study, while class time focuses on application of the material. Students move toward more independent and life-long learning, through presentations, group projects and research, development of intervention plans, role playing and lab practicals, which allow them to use and apply knowledge and experiences from the earlier semesters.
The program has identified the following themes/threads of the curriculum:
- Professional growth and responsibilities
- Clinical reasoning
- Occupation-based, client-centered OT Practice
- Community engagement
The curriculum design concepts have been applied to these as follows:
Professional Growth and Responsibilities
Professional growth provides the foundation for ethical and professional behaviors, the intra- and interpersonal skills required to be an effective member of an inter-professional team, life-long learning, and the ability to advocate and promote the profession. This theme is presented early in the program (often students take these courses prior to acceptance to the technical study portion of the program in OTA 10000—Foundations in Occupational Therapy and AHS 12010— Professionalism in Healthcare. These open enrollment courses may include students and/or instructors from multiple disciplines, exploring various concepts related to professional growth, responsibilities, behaviors, communication, and ethics. Students relate their previous experiences as healthcare consumers to important features of professionalism. These concepts are reinforced throughout the program, with strong emphasis in Level I fieldwork seminars and role playing and skilled practice during lab courses. These topics are assessed via rubrics on all lab practicals and fieldwork experiences.
Clinical Reasoning
The program describes clinical reasoning as the cognitive process of making the best clinical decisions throughout the therapeutic process. Clinical reasoning is a skill that is developed through education, practice and experience. It is highly influenced by client factors and context, theory and frames of reference, evidence-based practice, and skill of the occupational therapy assistant. Clinical reasoning is identified and defined during OTA 10010. In the following semesters, students use this information to build client-centered intervention plans and carry out simulated treatments during lab practicals, in
preparation for the higher-level clinical reasoning that is required in the complex settings of Level II fieldwork.
Occupation Based, Client-Centered OT Practice
This is defined as identifying the meaningful occupations of the person and including them as “active participants in the therapy process.” Understanding how their physical and/or psychosocial conditions may impact performance, and infusing context, environment, and relevant life aspects into improving the person’s roles and goals is central to the concept.
Occupational therapy practice provides services ranging from evaluation to provision of interventions to outcomes based on the client’s presenting symptoms, conditions, and/or disability. This concept is introduced and defined in OTA 10000 in the first semester of the program and included in all
courses throughout the OTA curriculum. In the first semester, students are introduced to the concepts through guided video observations and reinforced through an interview with a practitioner. Mastery of the content is assessed via many methods, including written exams, initially, and progressing via the spiral theory to written intervention plans, simulations of treatment sessions, lab practicals, and fieldwork assignments and assessments.
Community Engagement
Community engagement is described by the program as active involvement in identifying and serving the needs of populations, geographic areas or other defined communities. This includes community-based practice, community service and connection to community resources. The aim is for the practitioner to become an involved member of the community.
The program introduces this concept early in the program during OTA 10002 at a beginning level via assigned readings and lectures. Later in the semester/program, students complete a fieldwork experience in a community- based setting. Fieldwork seminars incorporate guided discussions on the value and challenges of this type of practice. Other Occupational Performance courses continue this thread by addressing community resources for populations. Later, in OTA 20001—OT Management and Leadership, students complete a project related to development of community-based programming to deepen their understanding of the scope of this theme.
References:
The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2020, Vol. 74(Supplement_2), 7412410010p1–7412410010p87.
https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2020.74S2001
Scaffa, Marjorie E., S. Maggie Reitz. (2020). Occupational Therapy in Community and Population Health Practice, 3rd edition. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis.
Educational Goals and Objectives
- Engage in ongoing professional growth and development as an occupational therapy assistant practitioner.
- Apply clinical reasoning by integrating clinical experiences with evidence-based practice and professional experience to provide best-practice occupational therapy services.
- Implement occupation-based, client-centered practice to support client's desired occupational roles and participation.
- Promote community engagement through connecting resources to identified groups and populations to facilitate healthy, productive and satisfying lives.
OTA Program Sequence of Courses
OTA Program Terminology
Below are the definitions of common terms used by the OTA Faculty and throughout this manual.
Academic Fieldwork Coordinator [AFWC] – Kent State University faculty member who is responsible for the administration, managing and coordination of the Level I and Level II fieldwork experiences for the students.
Competency - The minimum level of knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to progress in the OTA Program and to participate in fieldwork experience.
Fieldwork Educator [FWE] - The licensed Occupational Therapist or Occupational Therapy Assistant who is responsible for direct supervision and instruction of the student during the fieldwork experience whether Level I or Level II. May also be a non-OT person in certain circumstances.
Fieldwork Experience - The portion of the OTA curriculum in which the student develops clinical skills by applying didactic information in a practice setting. Level I fieldwork is related to the Occupational Performance in Psychosocial Health, Occupational Performance in Physical Health I, and Occupational Performance in Pediatric Populations courses. Level II fieldwork encompasses the application of knowledge in a work setting. Students complete two Level II experiences at the end of the program.
Instructor - The faculty member, presenter, or clinical instructor directly responsible for instruction and supervision of content area within the OTA Program.
Lab Practical - A type of examination that requires the student to role-play a clinical situation.
Occupational Therapist (OT) - The legal title of a person who is educated and licensed to practice occupational therapy.
Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) - The legal title of a person who is educated and licensed to practice occupational therapy.
OTA Class - Any scheduled OTA curriculum activity, including lectures, labs, fieldwork experience or special trips, is referred to as “Class” throughout this handbook.
Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) – This is the Kent State University name of the Associate of Applied Science degree earned in the OTA Program. These initials also identify the KSU department and core courses in the program.
OTA Faculty - The people employed by Kent State University to instruct courses in the OTA curriculum.
Program Director - The Kent State University faculty member responsible for oversight and administration of the OTA Program.