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A national evaluation of the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards (1994): A multistakeholder perspective
Author(s) -
Rodger Sylvia,
Clark Michele,
Banks Rebecca,
O’Brien Mia,
Martinez Kay
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1630.2009.00794.x
Subject(s) - occupational therapy , competence (human resources) , context (archaeology) , medical education , graduation (instrument) , scope of practice , scope (computer science) , executive summary , medicine , psychology , public relations , political science , engineering , business , physical therapy , social psychology , computer science , geography , mechanical engineering , health care , finance , law , programming language , archaeology
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.