Document Type (Journals)
Original Research
Abstract
The gender, ethnic, and racial diversity of occupational therapy professionals does not represent the diversity found in the population, and thus does not represent the diversity found in our patients and clients. In order to carry out the American Occupational Therapy Association’s vision to create a diverse workforce able to meet the needs of society, this study examined the factors influencing occupational therapy students’ choice of occupational therapy as a career using a survey. 538 participants responded to the survey. Results identify both influential factors and barriers to students pursuing occupational therapy as a career and have implications for diversifying the profession.
Biography
Donna Colaianni, PhD, OTR/L, CHT is Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at Eastern Kentucky University.
Grace Tovar, MS, OTR/L; Dominique Wilson, MS, OTR/L; and Heidi Zapanta, MS, OTR/L were students in the MSOT Program at Shenandoah University at the time the study was conducted .
Declaration of Interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Recommended Citation
Colaianni, D., Tovar, G., Wilson, D., & Zapanta, H. (2022). Factors Influencing the Diversity of Occupational Therapy Students. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 6 (1). https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2022.060102
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.