In search of an evidence-based approach to occupational therapy practice education that would include simulation experiences

 Simulation is a methodology used to replicate real-world tasks.  Simulation provides experiences that lead to direct learning or that can be used as an assessment of competence.  Such tasks have been used as a primary tactic in occupational therapy and other rehabilitation services since their inception - although they were generally applied in a therapeutic context.  For example, an individual would learn how to dress themselves out of context to develop skill, and then that skill would be transferred to contextual learning.  Sometimes, more esoterically, a simulated activity broken down into components would be used to practice parts of tasks that would then be scaffolded in a total practice method.  Either way, simulated experiences are a staple methodology used by occupational therapy professionals for many years.Over time, preferences emerged for ' real-world ' and ' contextually-relevant ' experience - so much so that entire service delivery systems incorporated ' natural environments ' as it was believed that this would help in the transfer of learning.  To the degree that completely ' natural environments ' were not always available or perhaps had barriers themselves, incorporating contextually meaningful elements into simulation experiences became a staple of rehabilitation and habilitation approaches.It is interesting that rehabilitation fields like occupational therapy that employ simulated learning experiences as their primary t...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education OT practice policy Source Type: blogs