Faculty Preparation for Teaching in Occupational Therapy: Current State and Future Needs

Area of Science:

• Occupational therapy education
• Academic professional development

Background:

• Many occupational therapy faculty transition from clinical practice without formal academic training.
• There is a need to understand current faculty development practices and identify future training needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess occupational therapy faculty's perceived preparedness for teaching roles.
• To evaluate current professional development activities.
• To identify essential topics for future faculty training.

Main Methods:

• A quantitative, descriptive survey was administered to 449 occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant faculty across the United States.
• The survey assessed institutional support, faculty participation in development, teaching comfort levels, and desired training topics.

Main Results:

• Teaching and instructional design training are encouraged but not required by most institutions.
• Informal meetings are the most common faculty development activities, despite institutional financial support for external opportunities.
• Faculty expressed a strong interest in learning to develop test questions, design course assignments, and improve teaching methods.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the development of targeted training programs for new and experienced occupational therapy faculty.
• This study provides a foundation for creating faculty development content to enhance teaching skills, confidence, and retention.