BSc Single Honours Occupational Therapy

This interprofessional module will provide you with the opportunity to learn from, about and with students from other professional programmes. As an interprofessional group of learners you will explore what it means to be a professional within the context of ethical, legal and regulatory frameworks as applied to your professional healthcare discipline. You will be given the opportunity to reflect and develop self-awareness to foster an understanding of your own beliefs, attitudes, values, knowledge, attributes and skills and explore how others may see the world differently to build and develop your professional identity. This module aims to aid your transition to university as a professional healthcare student, introducing you to the concept of evidence-based practice and some of the study skills you will need to develop as an experiential and lifelong learner. 

The aim of this module is to develop your knowledge of how the anatomical, physiological and psychological aspects of human science impact on occupational performance. You will explore human function and how dysfunction impacts on occupational performance and recovery. Three elements make up this module: Anatomy; Physiology; and Psychology.

This module will introduce you to the structure of the human body (anatomy) and how the human body functions physiologically and psychologically. You will be supported to understand the body systems and the processes that take place within the body which are key to maintaining occupational performance for the health and wellbeing of an individual.

The aim of this module is to explore the core principles of occupational therapy philosophy, its theoretical foundations, knowledge and core skills which underpin professional practice. The module will be delivered in parallel with ‘Understanding Occupational Performance’ to provide you with an understanding of human development, health and wellbeing and biopsychosocial functioning across the lifespan. This approach will enable you to develop an understanding of humans as occupational beings across the lifespan.

The module will enable you to explore the centrality of occupational science to inform professional practice. You will analyse the meaning of occupation, occupational engagement and occupational disruption and the design and use of occupation to support the health and wellbeing of individuals. You will develop your understanding of occupational therapy practice models and their incorporation within the occupational therapy process to design occupational therapy interventions. The analysis of evidence-based practice will be explored to support your professional reasoning.

This module aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of the social, politico-economic, cultural and environmental factors that influence the health and wellbeing of individuals, their families and the wider population. This understanding will underpin every aspect of your practice as a healthcare professional, preparing you to respond appropriately to the needs of all different groups and individuals.

You will explore terms such as wellbeing, disability, epidemiology, health status, health inequalities and determinants of health to try and answer the question ‘Is good or bad health simply the result of individual behaviours, genetics and medical care?’

During this module you will undertake 150 hours of practice placement (which may be in a clinical, research, education or leadership environment representing the 4 pillars of practice) where you will gain exposure to the wider issues impacting on health enabling you to link theory with practice. You will work alongside and be supervised by an occupational therapist who will facilitate and guide you to be actively involved in providing occupational therapy to clients.

Collaborate, don’t compete or repeat”. The aim of this module is to develop your knowledge and skillset to enable you to work collaboratively across professions, sectors and specialities. This will assist you to optimise the outcome for service users whilst promoting and protecting the service users interests at all times. The learning and teaching strategy is built on interactive group education between students working with group facilitators including academic, health and social care partners and experts by experience. The module is largely student led and uses problem and simulation based learning, observational visits and seminar-based groupwork. The module will use problem-based case scenarios with the aim of developing your knowledge of differing professional roles in coordinating care including scope of practice, as well as an understanding of the role and resources to support care in primary, acute and social care-based services within an integrated health economy. You will work with peers to embed the need to build and sustain professional relationships as an autonomous practitioner and collaboratively as a member of a team. You will develop a collaborative management plan and rationale which will be presented as part of the learning of the module. Case scenarios will be developed in partnership with experts by experience and draw upon a range of common enduring physical and mental health conditions. You will examine evidence of the importance of effective planning and communication of care, including safeguarding in practice, making and received appropriate referrals within and across care sectors and how this contributes positively to the safety, quality and economics of health care. You will be supported to understand how to evaluate your management plan using recognised and approved outcome measures in conjunction with services users and revise plans as required. As you progress through the module, you will develop inter-professional capabilities of communication, role clarification, decision-making and teamworking enabling you to practice in a non-discriminatory manner.

This interprofessional module will provide you with the opportunity to learn from, about and with students from other professional programmes. The use of evidence, research and enquiry is an integral part of professional health and social care practice. This module aims to prepare you to understand and critically evaluate evidence and will develop your knowledge of how to examine and improve practice through research and inquiry. As an interprofessional group you will be introduced to contemporary research methodologies and methods related to your profession and its underpinning knowledge base. You will examine sources of evidence and the ways to differentiate between different types of evidence. The concepts of research design, data collection, data analysis and research outcomes will be explored. Using a range of approaches and techniques you will develop confidence in systematically searching and critiquing evidence from a variety of sources to inform your own and others professional practice. You will also discuss the moral and ethical aspects of undertaking research demonstrating an appreciation of the role of service users in the research process.

Acknowledging the emotional burden that comes with working in a pressurised environment, this module aims to introduce you to the range of factors that have the potential to affect your own health and well-being as a healthcare professional as well as developing a critical understanding of the challenges facing the public. As a professional healthcare student, it is vital that you look after your own health and wellbeing. You will be introduced to strategies of self-care and safe awareness related to your own health as well as being supported to recognise the characteristics and consequences of stress and anxiety both personally and professionally. The role of short and longer term management strategies such as support and signposting will facilitate you in maintaining a safe working environment, maintaining fitness to practice. Building upon these strategies, the module will also develop your knowledge and skills relating to empowering service users to engage with healthcare, take more responsibility for their own health and enhance motivation for lasting health behaviour change, all key factors in evidence based sustainable healthcare. By understanding the qualities, behaviours and benefits of leadership, and through exploring your own developmental needs as a leader, you will explore your role as a healthcare professional in promoting health in a variety of settings across the lifespan. You will understand the enablers and barriers to maintaining and improving the physical and mental health of service users such as health literacy and social isolation, to support the implementation of change. Using a blended learning approach, your learning will be enhanced by the use of case studies ensuring your adopt a holistic approach to empowering self and others. Learning and teaching activities during this module may be supported by our “experts by experience” group (service users) and/or practice partners and simulation activities will also facilitate you to link theory with practice and provide you with the opportunity to practice and receive feedback.

The aim of this module is to explore advanced and enhancing areas of occupational therapy practice, building on the foundations from year one.

You will continue to analyse the evidence base to inform occupational therapy interventions and examine how occupational science and occupational therapy models can be applied in more complex areas of practice to formulate your professional reasoning to support the health and wellbeing of individuals and community groups. Using a case-based approach, your learning will be enhanced by the use of case studies ensuring you adopt a holistic approach within the occupational therapy process (biological, psychological and social factors). Case studies of more complex real areas of practice will be used such as Forensic Mental Health, Hand injury, Multiple sclerosis, Amputation, Spinal Cord injury, Borderline personality, Traumatic brain injury, Public health, Telehealth, Driving Assessment, Emergency services, complex emotional needs.

This module consists of two six-week practice placements – Practice Placement 2 (PP2) and Practice Placement 3 (PP3) which take place in a practice environment with supervision by a practice educator(s)/supervisor(s). This module contributes to the recommendation by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists that you must successfully complete (pass) a minimum of 1000 hours of practice placement learning during your programme of study.

The aim of this module is to build upon your theory and practical skills developed from previous modules whilst assessing the fundamental professional qualities and behaviour required of a healthcare professional.