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DAISY MARQUIS JONES PROGRAM IN
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
 Occupational therapy is a health care profession that promotes life-long
health and well being of individuals through engagement in occupation.
Occupation refers to all of the everyday tasks that people of all ages do
to care for themselves, to contribute meaningfully and productively within
their society, and to enjoy life. These occupations include tasks
associated with self-care, play or leisure activities, work, school and
other productive activities. Occupational therapists work with
individuals to increase daily function, enhance and support development,
and prevent disability through the promotion of individual performance and
by adapting tasks and environments.
Occupational therapists can be found working in schools, hospitals,
rehabilitation centers, skilled nursing facilities, community agencies,
private practice, psychiatric facilities and outpatient clinics, home care
agencies, business and industry, and wellness organizations. In addition,
there are emerging practice areas, such as:
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consulting
on home and building designs to assure accessibility,
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providing
driver evaluation and training to senior citizens,
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consulting
with business and industry on ergonomics and health
maintenance strategies,
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collaborating with optometrists, and
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developing
assistive devices and consulting on technology.
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The primary mission of the Daisy Marquis Jones Program in Occupational
Therapy is to develop competent practitioners who are capable of:
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promoting
the best practice of occupational therapy in established and emerging
practice settings.
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enhancing
the quality of life of all people with whom they interact.
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contributing
to the development of knowledge of occupation and its use to promote
health and wellness in individuals of all ages and in all places where
people carry out their lives.
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influencing
occupational therapy practice through leadership, scholarship, and
service.
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The curriculum in occupational therapy is designed to provide a strong
foundation in the liberal arts, sciences, and humanities, to offer a
comprehensive and rigorous professional education, and to develop the
attitudes and skills for lifelong learning and leadership. Since learning
is change due to experience, the curriculum is rich in experience and is
organized around students’ analyses of these experiences. As students
progress through the educational sequence, they accumulate an expanding
reservoir of experiences that enables them to acquire increasingly rich
resources for learning and at the same time provides them with a
broadening base on which to relate new learning.
The underlying philosophy of both the bachelor’s and master’s curricula is
based on the following beliefs:
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People are
complex and multidimensional biopsychosocial beings who dynamically
interact, impact, and are impacted by physical, social, political,
cultural, and spiritual environments. These environments in turn
contribute to the structure and fabric of meaning in their lives.
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People
interface with their environments through the engagement in occupation.
Occupations are defined as everyday tasks that people of all ages do to
care for themselves, to contribute meaningfully and productively within
their society, and to enjoy life. Occupations consist of “the units of
organized activity within an ongoing stream of human behavior that are
named and classified according to the purpose they serve” (Yerxa, 1998).
Occupation is a basic human need and serves as an organizing force for a
person’s time and behavior within their environments.
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Occupational
therapists promote, enable, and/or enhance the basic need for occupation
regardless of environmental constraints, social misconceptions and bias,
or reimbursement.
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Occupational
therapists view the wellness of individuals and populations as a state of
complete physical, mental, sociocultural, spiritual and economic/political
well being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
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Increasing
the quality of life for all recipients of occupational therapy is an
intrinsic value and keystone of occupational therapy education and
practice.
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Occupational
therapists practice wherever people carry on their lives. There are no
limits to where the principles and concepts of occupational therapy can be
applied.
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Based on the
most current research on the relationship between occupation and well
being, occupational therapists develop and implement innovative
occupational therapy practices to enable people to lead lives of
meaningful occupation.
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Occupational therapists are
true change agents who are facilitators, leaders, and creators of “paths
of betterment.” Ever respectful of each person’s culture, beliefs, and
values, occupational therapists foster and promote an “I can” belief in
others. Families, teams, departments, organizations, communities, and
societies are enhanced when this belief is internalized. |
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