Pathways of researching and strategies to teaching occupational therapy on social assistance field

Abstract

This paper discusses one strategy to teaching Occupational Therapy to undergraduates and offers examples of its implementation in practice. It examines a course which brought together classroom teaching and field practice activities so as to lead students to have a first-hand experience of research in Social Occupational Therapy. The course intended to foster student interest in academic research by getting students involved in field work and in debates with peers, professors and practicing therapists. Its format led students to think critically about the building up of social technologies to promote the social-economic integration of economically peripheral populations.  The course took as its starting point the study of a potentially income-generating squatted area to help students think about academic research as an intrinsic and important part of assistance policy-designing in Occupational Therapy. At the end of the course, it became clear that the teaching strategy of bringing together students, teachers and occupational therapists in a discussion group, and the opportunity for actual field work, greatly enhanced students’ individual and collective critical skills.