Measuring Dependency in the Elderly: The Feasibility of Incorporating Formal Assessments into Occupational Therapy Workload

Abstract

In Canada, 11 schools of occupational therapy and physiotherapy have adopted the baccalaureate degree as their basic level of student education. The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists has required such a degree for eligibility for membership since May 1978. Does the lack of a degree hamper the careers of diploma therapists in the work force? What are the outcomes of obtaining a degree as anticipated by the universities and as reported by 55 graduates of the University of British Columbia degree-completion programme, introduced in 1975? The author is a graduate of the 1981–82 University of British Columbia degree-completion programme.