Scope of Occupational Therapy postgraduate degrees around the world

Abstract

Introduction: The production of knowledge in Occupational Therapy has been making progress worldwide.Objective: To understand how Occupational Therapy has developed as an academic discipline, particularly with respect to its areas of research at different universities.Methods: The Occupational Therapy postgraduate programs around the world (such as master’s degrees and doctoral programs), registered at World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) until 2015, were mapped and the websites of each program were visited to complete the information.Results: Data from 266 institutions that offered postgraduate programs were collected and analyzed. As of 2015, there were 348 programs in 11 countries; 225 professional master’s degrees, 69 academic master’s degrees, 30 post-professional doctorates in Occupational Therapy (PPOTD), and 24 academic doctorates (PhD). Such programs have existed since 1918 and had two major growth periods in 1940 and 1990.Conclusions: The number of postgraduate programs in occupational therapy is fairly limited. Only 16% of the countries that offer undergraduate courses also have master’s or doctoral programs. There are few postgraduate programs, especially at the doctoral level, which has limited the academic scope of this field.