Naming the Invisible: Exploring Implicit Design Thinking in Occupational Therapy Curricula

Dominique C. Sherratt, University of South AustraliaFollow
Mary Butler, University of South AustraliaFollow
Shoshannah Kiriam, University of South AustraliaFollow
Ben Sellar, University of South AustraliaFollow

Document Type (Journals)

Original Research

Abstract

Occupational therapy inherently involves the application of design and co-design skills within professional practice, yet there is limited evidence about how these skills are taught to students. This study used a qualitative descriptive design to explore the perspectives of occupational therapy educators in Australia and New Zealand on how and where design and co-design skills are integrated within occupational therapy curricula. Educators were purposively sampled from the Australian and New Zealand Council of Occupational Therapy Educators (ANZCOTE), with additional participants recruited through snowball sampling. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with occupational therapy educators. Interviews were conducted and analyzed using the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven (QUAGOL). Four themes emerged from the semi-structured interviews; 1. Cultivating creativity, 2. Bridging the gap between education and practice, 3. Integrating design and co-design within occupational therapy curricula exists on a spectrum, and 4. Equipping future therapists. This study contributes to occupational therapy education by highlighting educators’ perspectives on the value of design and co-design skills for students, identifying challenges to explicit integration, and emphasizing aspirations for future professional development in design and co-design within tertiary education.

Biography

Dominique Sherratt, BOccThy(Hons) completed her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy with a first class honours at the University of South Australia in 2024.

Mary Butler, Ph.D. is a Professor of Occupational Therapy at UniSA, Adelaide. Her teaching emphasizes co-design and humanities as approaches to enrich student learning. In her research, she has applied co-design methods across family-centered practice, mobility, and care ethics. She received a Design Award at the National Design Institute of New Zealand's Value of Design Award for a study on vision science in schools.

Shoshannah Kiriam, Ph.D. is a Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at the University of South Australia. Their research and applied program work has focused on urban poor and homeless communities in Bangladesh and the Pacific, utilising ethnographic, participatory and co-design methods to evaluate and design poverty alleviation and health programs. Their teaching draws on participatory and co-design methods to support students to design together with communities for health equity.

Ben Sellar, PhD is Program Director of Occupational Therapy at the University of South Australia in Adelaide Australia. His teaching focuses primarily on primary health care, community development and theory in occupational therapy practice. His research employs critical social theory to understand determinants of, and responses to, the health and wellbeing needs of marginalised young people and families.

Declaration of Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Recommended Citation

Sherratt, D. C., Butler, M., Kiriam, S., & Sellar, B. (2025). Naming the Invisible: Exploring Implicit Design Thinking in Occupational Therapy Curricula. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 9 (4). Retrieved from https://encompass.eku.edu/jote/vol9/iss4/9