Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is centred on people and their need to “be active”. Occupational therapists treat people whose ability to be active is impaired as a result of accidents, illness or developmental delay. The goal is to enable these people to gain or regain as much independence as possible in everyday life, at work, at school and during leisure time. Occupational therapy assumes that “being active” is a basic human need. Occupational therapists work with people of all ages. They treat impairments of movement and also address cognitive and psychological problems preventing people from independent activity. Health promotion is another area of emphasis. Occupational therapists work with different target groups, approaching particular aspects of health by “being active”.

Occupational therapists assess the problems and abilities of their clients, analyse the tasks they perform in everyday life and use their findings to establish goals and procedures for therapy. They then carry out the planned procedures and evaluate the results continuously. Occupational therapists act on their own responsibility and perform the steps of the therapy process independently. They work mainly in hospitals, rehabilitation centres or sociomedical establishments but can also run their own independent practices or work with patients in their own homes.

The Bachelor’s programme in Occupational Therapy trains you to become an occupational therapist. It teaches you how to respond to people’s needs and provides you with the health-related knowledge you need to enable you to work independently.

The occupational therapy process

You will receive a grounding in basic medical science and learn about the occupational therapy process, including assessment, intervention and evaluation of the success of therapy in different illnesses. You will learn about the basic procedures, the use of specific examination and measuring instruments and how to formulate targets, which provide the basis for therapeutic planning. The focus is always on the specific procedures and methods used in occupational therapy. You learn to apply the concepts and treatment techniques through your own experience and during internships. The degree programme also addresses the subject of health promotion.

The basic need “to be active”

In this degree course you come to understand the relationship between occupational therapy and “being active” and the importance and effects of this relationship with regard to health and personal life. In the process you learn to carry out and teach different activities and skills such as craft techniques or everyday routine tasks. Tain emphasis is on analysing different tasks and then considering them in the light of each client’s impairments, taking the patient’s cultural background into account.

Scientific method and social skills

Alongside the subject-related content you are also taught the principles of scientific method and the social skills you will need as an occupational therapist. These skills will enable you to communicate with your clients and give them advice and instruction. And they will also enable you to reflect on your own actions.