Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy (OT) is a health/rehabilitation profession whose practitioners work in a wide variety of settings including acute care hospitals, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric hospitals, community mental health facilities, schools, and nursing homes, to name a few. This profession contributes to the physical and emotional independence; and the well being of an individual or group of people through the selection of occupations or activities from everyday life that have meaning and purpose to the individual. This enables the individual to gain, regain, enhance, or prevent loss of habits, skills, tasks, routines or roles that the individual has performed in the past, or is learning to perform in order to participate fully as a contributing member of his or her community or personal environment. Occupational therapists provide services and programs for people of all ages who have physical, emotional, social, or developmental problems. Occupational therapy involves finding the right occupations or activities, designing the right environment, or creating the right opportunities for experiences that lead towards health, independence of function and the prevention of dysfunction.

Occupational Therapy Program

Accreditation Status: The Occupational Therapy Program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 6116 Executive Boulevard Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929. ACOTE’S telephone number, c/o AOTA, is (301)652-AOTA and its web address is www.acoteonline.org.
Next Re-Accreditation Site Visit: 2025-2026
The program is accredited for 10 years since 2015-2016
Professional Examination Scores: The examination agency for occupational therapy graduates is the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). Their address is 12 South Summit Avenue, Suite 100, Gaithersburg, MD 20877-4150. NBCOT’s telephone number is (301) 990-7979 and its main web site is www.nbcot.org. Program examination results can be found at this web address: https://secure.nbcot.org/data/schoolstats.aspx.

The total number of graduates from our program during the three-year period of 2017 to 2019 was 59.

Graduation Year	Graduating/Students Entering	Graduation Rate
2019	22/34	67.6%
2018	22/26	84.6%
2017	14/14	100.0%
Total	59/74	79.8%

The total number of graduates who passed the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) certification examination as new graduate test takers in 2014 was 80% (This is based on Program Performance data from NBCOT web site).

After successful completion of (6) six months of full time fieldwork experience (field experiences must be completed within 24 months of graduation) in an occupational therapy program and passing the NBCOT exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). Most states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination.

A felony conviction may affect a graduate's ability to sit for the certification exam or attain state licensure.

Tuskegee University offers a Master of Science degree in Occupational Therapy. This program is designed to prepare students in:

Occupational Science
Biological and Behavioral Sciences
Health/Rehabilitation Services
Human Developmental Processes
Evaluation and Analysis of Specific Life Tasks and Occupations
Therapeutic Processes and Procedures
Professional Communication and Management
Scholarly Activities Related to Research and Evidence Based Practice

The Occupational Therapy student must possess the ability to:

Travel to community training locations for instruction, observation and/or evaluation
Comprehend, analyze, integrate and synthesize general and technical information, ideas and concepts presented in written, audio and visual forms
Apply basic principles and concepts in business, bioethics and the social, behavioral, psychological, physical and biological sciences to the logical solution of problems in the field of occupational therapy
Function effectively, efficiently and flexibly under stress and changing conditions
Objectively observe and evaluate conditions and/or practices related to occupational therapy
Display mature, ethical judgment in decision making
Set up, adapt, and utilize a variety of media, occupations and equipment for therapeutic intervention among a diverse population
Understand and utilize evidence based practice in occupational therapy
Design and implement beginning level research studies
Understand and utilize evidence based practice in occupational therapy
Participate in annderstand the value of scholarly activities
Understand the process of securing grants.