Objectives: This research explores access and participation to UK pre-registration OT education asidentified by Higher Education Institutions (n=40 websites); implemented and perceived by UK OT admissions tutors (n=34 anonymous online surveys); and experienced by OT students andnewly qualified occupational therapists (n=12 individual interviews), focusingon known underrepresented populations (disabled, ethnic minority, LGBTQIA+, male and/or non-traditional qualification entrants).
Methods: A mixed-methods, cross-sectional design was used for this 3-phased study. An exploratory model building on each phase allowed for initial quantitative data collection and analysis in phases 1 (website review) and 2 (survey). Reflexive thematic analysis in phase 3 (interviews) ensured seldom heard participants’ lived experiences were interrogated and unpacked through a critical theory and intersectional lens.
Impact/Results: Results reveal a student journey to OT pre-registration education includes pathways to1) Discovering and Exploring, where the profession remains invisible, misunderstood and unrepresentative.2) Navigating and Accessing, where multiple intersecting personal, institutional and systemic barriers exist. 3)Transitioning and Participating, where OT education and practice may beexperienced as racist and ableist but is attempting to become an (emerging) aligned profession throughthe inclusion ofanti-racist, anti-ableist, anti-heteronormative and decolonised curricula.
Conclusion/Contribution to the occupational therapy profession: Despite historical calls to diversify OT student and workforce populations, the profession continues to be dominated by white middle-class females. Narratives from this study suggest UK OT pre-registration admissions processes pose significant barriers to underrepresented students, including racist, ableist and othering attitudes. For a profession that is philosophically underpinned by occupational justice, this is an unacceptable juxtaposition that requires urgent action to prevent ongoing perpetuation of the status quo.