Unit Synopsis
This unit will provide you with a clear understanding of the fundamental theoretical frameworks that guide occupational therapy practice. An historical overview of the profession will be presented so that you can contrast the changes and plot the evolution of occupational therapy practice from the profession's foundations to the present day. The practical application of occupational theory as it drives contemporary occupational therapy practice will be introduced via one key occupational therapy practice model. You will be introduced to the regulatory and professional bodies guiding ethical occupational therapy practice locally and internationally. Skill development will focus on the acquisition of qualiative and quantitative information gathering techniques including interviewing and the application of standardised and non-standardised assessments.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 2. Practical and Written Assessment | 40% |
| 3. Presentation and Written Assessment | 30% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 57.14% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 29.79% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE comments, informal student feedback, unit coordinator reflections.
Presentation of content was often rushed, students suggested more time was needed for practical tasks.
It is recommended that workshop length is increased in 2025 to enable more time to be spent on practical tasks and prevent rushing of content.
Workshop length was increased in 2025.
Source: SUTE comments
Some students stated that they had limited understanding of how the content linked to occupational therapy practice.
It is recommended that more practical examples of occupational therapy practice be incorporated into teaching content, e.g., presentations from practicing clinicians.
"Clinical Practice Spotlights" were held twice over the term, whereby practicing clinicians were invited to present to the students about their roles and to outline "a typical day". The extended workshop length also increased opportunities for engagement in practical tasks.
Source: SUTE comments, informal student feedback, educator observations.
Some students found it difficult to engage with content delivered primarily from a remote campus.
It is recommended that teaching and leading classes be more evenly divided between educators to ensure maximum engagement from all students, regardless of campus location.
An educator was present on both campuses for all workshops and for some lectures. As much as was practical, lecture delivery was divided amongst educators.
Source: SUTE comments
Students found concentrating for the entirety of long classes to be challenging.
It is recommended that more breaks and variety in learning activities be introduced to class content to enable continued concentration and engagement.
In Progress
Source: SUTE comments; informal student feedback
Students requested more guidance and exemplars for the interview practice.
It is recommended that increased use of demonstration be incorporated into interview practice classes, including the use of video resources.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Explain the theory and philosophy that underpins the profession of occupational therapy
- Demonstrate an understanding of the development and scope of the occupational therapy profession over time
- Describe the occupational therapy practice process across various contexts
- Conduct person-centred information gathering processes.
This content contributes to the development of Occupational Therapy Australia Competencies for Entry Level Practitioners.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | ||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | ||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||
| 3 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||