Value Acquisition in an Occupational Therapy Curriculum

Abstract

As the health care industry has become increasingly competitive, health care practitioners have become aware of the need to demonstrate that the occupational groups to which they belong perform unique and vital services to clients and patients. This awareness has fostered the development of a body of literature on professional identity and development that includes discussion of the role of values in defining and differentiating professional groups The purpose of this study was to begin exploration and discussion of the process by which students in one occupational therapy curriculum acquire and integrate professional values. The results of the study indicate that the acquisition of professional values may be a developmental process that is not complete at graduation from academic training. Additionally, the study indicates that value acquisition is a fertile area for research, one of tremendous importance for the education of future practitioners.