Educating Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Students in Gerontology

Abstract

The need for gerontic occupational therapists is increasing as the number of elders increases. The practice of including gerontologic content in occupational therapy entry-level curricula is relatively new. This article provides a rationale for including gerontologic content in entry-level occupational therapy curricula and presents the results of a brief survey conducted in November 1990 of all accredited and developing entry-level professional occupational therapy programs in the United States. Seventy-one percent of the entry-level programs responded. All of the responding programs included some gerontologic content in their curricula, and 82% of the responding programs indicated that the amount of gerontologic content in the required curriculum had increased in the past 5 years. Other gerontologic elements examined were courses offered and topics included in entry-level curricula, textbooks used, and gerontic fieldwork requirements.