Introduction: A new course was designed for students entering an occupational therapy (OT) program to foster the occupations necessary for graduate school success. The course was developed in response to the concerns of incoming students, who had attained the prerequisite academic knowledge required for enrollment, but lacked instruction on professional skills and were unprepared for the mental and physical demands of graduate school.
Objectives: Understand the purpose of a course to develop professional skills and prepare students for the demands of graduate education.
Identify methods of utilizing occupation to facilitate the student success.
Approach: Students were educated on the process and importance of effectively utilizing occupations to facilitate success in the graduate curriculum through a variety of methods. Each student developed professional goals using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and evaluated their progress through the continuous process of self-reflection. Students interacted with mentors as well as with each other in supportive group discussions and experiences. They researched best practices to facilitate occupation-based workshops on a variety of professional issues.
Results: This course shaped students’ understanding of purposeful activity as they learned to analyze the relationship between occupation and graduate school success through their own personal experiences. The processes of professional goal setting and ongoing self-reflection facilitated the development of reflective and responsive students with a sense of professional identity.
Significance to OT Profession: Occupational therapists develop the skills and habits of self-reflective practitioners by beginning as self-reflective students. It is through opportunities to develop professional capacity that students are empowered to establish themselves as self-directed future professionals with the ability to engage in transformational leadership.