Exploring Competencies That Prepare Occupational Therapy Students for Acute Mental Health Practice: A Document Analysis.
Occupational therapy graduates in South Africa are increasingly required to practice in acute mental health settings, yet the extent to which current curricula prepare them adequately remains underexplored. This study examined the competencies required for acute mental health occupational therapy pr...
| Publicado en: | Occupational Therapy International Vol. 2026; pp. 1 - 26 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
| Formato: | algorithm research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
5/26/2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=194055793&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 194055793 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 09667903 GPF jtl: Occupational Therapy International issn: 09667903 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: 5/26/2026 vid: 2026 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 194055793 194055793 194055793 10.1155/oti/5063621 194055793 ppf: 1 ppct: 25 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: C – @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Exploring Competencies That Prepare Occupational Therapy Students for Acute Mental Health Practice: A Document Analysis. aug: au: Mkhize, Phakeme Z. Mpanza, December M. Naidoo, Deshini Hilton, Claudia affil: Discipline of Occupational Therapy, , School of Health Sciences, , College of Health Sciences, , University of KwaZulu-Natal, , Durban, South Africa, ukzn.ac.za sug: subj: Students, Occupational Therapy Clinical Competence Evaluation Mental Health Services Standards Occupational Therapy Practice Curriculum Standards Human Funding Source South Africa Document Analysis Purposive Sample Comparative Studies Education, Occupational Therapy Hospitals, Psychiatric Descriptive Statistics Cultural Competence Mental Disorders Rehabilitation ab: Occupational therapy graduates in South Africa are increasingly required to practice in acute mental health settings, yet the extent to which current curricula prepare them adequately remains underexplored. This study examined the competencies required for acute mental health occupational therapy practice through a comparative document analysis of four national and international frameworks: the WFOT Minimum Standards (2016), HPCSA Minimum Standards (2024), WHO Recommendations for Occupational Therapy Practice in Mental Health (2024), and WHO mhGAP Intervention Guide (2016), mapped against the University of KwaZulu‐Natal (UKZN) exit‐level outcomes (2024). Seven core competency domains were identified across the frameworks. The UKZN outcomes demonstrated strong alignment in cultural competence and interdisciplinary collaboration, partial alignment in recovery‐oriented practice, assessment skills, therapeutic use of self, and professional resilience, and confirmed gaps in condition‐specific knowledge, risk assessment, trauma‐informed care, crisis intervention, and transition planning. These findings demonstrate that acute mental health competency preparation cannot be achieved through alignment with any single regulatory document, including the HPCSA framework. This therefore calls for both urgent curriculum reform and strengthening of accreditation standards across all South African occupational therapy programs. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: algorithm research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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