Introduction/Rationale: Global mental health landscape has been profoundly impacted by crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate-related disasters, and ongoing conflicts, contributing to widespread anxiety, depression, and mental health disorders. Public health responses have often intensified stress and fear, highlighting urgent needs for OTs to be equipped to address complex, evolving mental health challenges. To meet this demand, education must adopt innovative approaches to prepare practitioners to navigate individual and population-level mental health care.
Objectives: Explore the impact of adopting an active -learning educational model, Fink’s Significant Learning Model, which integrates strategies across multiple courses and fieldwork in the mental health domain.
Emphasize learning activities that promote student engagement, equipping students to address mental health across the curriculum, from individual to population health.
Methods/Approach: This poster will detail the implementation of an integrated mental health curriculum, emphasizing active-learning methodologies and student learning objectives. Aligned with Fink’s model, the curriculum integrates didactic and experiential learning, promoting critical thinking and clinical skills development through assignments, exams, and Level I Mental Health Fieldwork.
Results/practice implications: Descriptive data on student population characteristics and outcomes across semesters including assignments, exams, Level I Mental Health Fieldwork Assessment. Student learning objective outcomes focused on mental health knowledge, intervention application, including comparative analysis of student data across courses and semesters.
Conclusion/Contribution to the occupational therapy profession: OT’s role in addressing global mental health is crucial. This integrated educational approach inspires change by equipping future OTs with skills needed to innovate mental health care and address growing worldwide demands.