OC TH 6010 - History and Foundations of Occupational Practice

This course provides critical overview of occupational therapy practice through the context of time. The core concepts of occupation therapy, occupation, will be presented against a backdrop of historical events, enabling the student to develop a basic understanding of the growth of the profession. Occupational science will be introduced as an academic discipline that examines occupational therapy's core idea: occupation, and its role in current and future occupational therapy practice, including theories of occupational development across the lifespan. Occupational therapy's emergence as an allied health profession will be examined against an overview of conceptual frameworks and practice models that have been and are being used by the profession to maintain and restore occupational performance and social participation. Clinical reasoning, standards of practice, values and ethics, and professional roles of OTR & COTA will be introduced.