The Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) Program is an advanced, post-professional online program designed to create occupation-based practitioners who will be ethical leaders of change in occupational therapy services for diverse populations. Graduates will serve in leadership roles, affect educational and health care policy, and act as catalysts for excellence in intervention settings in order to better meet the needs of occupational therapy consumers.
One of the final, culminating experiences in the OTD Program is the capstone project, which demonstrates a synthesis of OTD program outcomes. Incorporating principles of evidence-based and occupation-based practice, students address a specific healthcare problem or health outcome and implement practice changes that improve health care, health care delivery, or health-related outcomes. The project is a faculty-guided scholarly experience that provides evidence of critical thinking, and the ability to apply research principles through problem identification, proposal development, implementation, and evaluation of a solution to a practice problem. Capstone projects may take a number of forms, but the final product provides evidence of scholarship and mastery in the areas of leadership, research methods, and practice improvement.