Introduction: Canada is a culturally diverse country with immigrants from around the world. The Canadian government aims to offer culturally relevant occupational therapy to its citizens and thus provides opportunity for qualified internationally educated occupational therapists (IEOTs) to practice in Canada. To acquire the practice status, IEOTs must undergo a competency assessment (CA) and a licencing exam. The Program for IEOTs (PIE-OT) was developed to support IEOTs to go through the CA.
Objective: The PIE-OT is a four-month online education program which participants can enrol in from anywhere in the world once registered to take the CA. This presentation discusses the evaluation protocol of the PIE-OT, program effectiveness, the success rate for those taking the CA after completing the program, and areas for improvement.
Methods: Through anonymous pre- and post-program online surveys, we compared participants’ readiness for taking the CA. With the participants' consent, we tracked their CA outcomes and identified areas for program enhancement.
Results: Participants found the program useful and felt better prepared for the CA after participation in the PIE-OT. They identified areas that benefited them most and made suggestions for program modifications. Based on participants’ feedback and their CA results, the program was refined.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates the need and value of the PIE-OT. It prepares IEOTs to take the CA, enables interested participants to work in Canada, and prepares them to serve the multicultural community. It also serves as a blueprint to support workforce mobility for IEOTs to work in different countries.