Introduction/Rationale: Worldwide, there is need to diversify the occupational therapy workforce and promote the profession to diverse populations. One way academic programs can address these global concerns can be through crafting innovative learning opportunities where occupational therapy students educate underrepresented youth on occupational therapy as a profession.
Objectives: To identify the perspectives of occupational therapy students on the acceptability and impact of engaging in an evidence-informed outreach program.
Methods/Approach: As a novel assignment within a sociocultural aspects of care course, occupational therapy students facilitated age-appropriate, interactive outreach presentations to underrepresented youth. Presentations provided an overview of the profession including plain language definitions of occupational therapy, examples of populations served by occupational therapy practitioners, and various educational pathways to enter the profession. Students completed reflections regarding their experiences. Thematic analysis was used to identify and define themes within reflections.
Results/Practice Implications: Sixty-eight occupational therapy students conducted 11 outreach sessions to 168 underrepresented youth. Students viewed themselves as agents of change to promote diversity in the profession and framed this experience as a catalyst for knowledge translation and further knowledge acquisition.
Conclusion/Contribution to the occupational therapy profession: Occupational therapy students found the outreach experiences successful and satisfying. As one way to inspire change amongst occupational therapy students and work towards diversifying the profession, academic programs can embed innovative learning experiences such as outreach programs within their curricula.