Quality analysis in therapeutic recreation curricula

Within the last several years therapeutic recreation has witnessed an increasing concern over the quality of professional preparation programs. Unfortunately, few efforts have really focused on improving the depth of preparation although the scope of preparation is fairly well documented by accreditation criteria. Quality analysis elucidates curricula by considering: (1) the depth of competence desired, (2) the barriers to acquiring said knowledge and (3) who is responsible for disseminating the knowledge to students. Furthermore, quality analysis relative to therapeutic recreation curricula currently requires consideration of material from other disciplines and therapeutic recreation's unique perspective on traditional areas of learning. A competency cluster including knowledge related to anatomy, physiology, disabilities and limitations imposed by the disabling conditions and medical terminology was used as an example of quality analysis. Quality analysis revealed that the aforesaid competency cluster is not presently being transmitted adequately to students and that therapeutic recreation educators' need to assume more responsibility for disseminating knowledge related to the competencies discussed.