都柏林圣三一學(xué)院

The main goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in meaningful activities of everyday living, for example, self-care, work and leisure activities. By enabling people to engage in activities that hold meaning for them, occupational therapists aim to enable people to improve their day-to-day quality of life.

Occupational therapists work in a variety of settings, including community, hospitals, rehabilitation units, schools, universities and reform centres. Examples of what occupational therapists do include:

• Adapting the home of an elderly person to make it easier and safer for him/her to use.
• Working with people with depression and schizophrenia using activities such as cooking a meal to foster a sense of achievement, develop personal skills and facilitate successful experiences.
• Using play activities to improve the play and movement skills of children with cerebral palsy.
• Running life-skills programmes that enable people with intellectual disabilities to develop skills such as budgeting so that they can live more independently in the community.
• Advising community groups about ways to promote health and maintain activity in their lives.
• Enabling people to select and effectively use equipment and appliances, including wheelchairs, dressing aids, computers and other assistive technology, to increase their independence.
• Assessing the ability of someone with acquired brain injury to return to work and then modify that person’s work (the job itself and the workplace) to enable this, where possible, to happen.

Occupational therapy interventions consider:

• The individual person – improving or maintaining their level of physical, cognitive (thinking), affective (emotional) and social ability.
• The occupation – examining the self-care, leisure and work-related activities that people value in their daily lives and making changes to these activities so that they better meet the individual’s abilities.
• The environment – manipulating or adapting the physical environment so that it does not impede but, if possible, enhances performance; and influencing the social, cultural and institutional environment in ways that enable people to live as independent a life as possible and reach their full potential.

Occupational Therapy: The course for you?

This is the right course for you if you are a creative thinker who is open to finding solutions to a multitude of problems and if working with people with diverse abilities is something you enjoy and find stimulating. Visiting an occupational therapy department will give you more understanding of what is involved in this profession.

Occupational Therapy @ Trinity

The course is the longest established university-based occupational therapy course in Ireland. It uses many innovative teaching methodologies, including peer education, problem-based learning, as well as more traditional methods. Students and staff collaborate on projects that involve both research and service delivery, in new areas of practice.

Graduate skills and career opportunities

As a qualified occupational therapist from Trinity, you will be well equipped to pursue a very rewarding career working with people of all age groups in a wide range of service settings. The course is approved by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (so when you complete your degree, you are qualified to work as an occupational therapist in Ireland, as well as abroad.