A Contparison of Intpact of Undergraduate and Graduate Occupa ional Therapy Education on Professional Productivity ( dovetailing , occupational behavior , occupational therapy , research

This article presents an account of the evolutionary changes in occupa­ tional therapy graduatf education at the University ofSouthern California (USC) in response to the increasmg professional demands and the ex­ panding knowledge base of the field. The contention that undergraduate and graduate education represented by these changes would result in dif­ ferent student products was tested. A questionnaire SW"(If), was used to as­ sess the responses of 189 fonner un­ dergraduate and graduate occupa­ tional therapy students ofesc on issues relating to professionalism. leadership, attitudes, and scholar(y contributions. Hesults of this study support the theor), that raduate ed­ ucation ofa specific kind and quality enhances the profeHionalization of occupational therap), more so than does undergraduate education. T he impa t of ucati naJ Ie\'­ el on the productivities of occupati lJal therapists has been asses ed in t\\'o studies (1-3). Gilke­ son and Hanlen (1) did a nation­ wide ,tudv of ccupational ther­ apists to com are rofessional productivity bet en rna tel" Ie' I and bachelor's level the api'ts; their tudy concluded that. no sta­ tistically ~ignificam differences beween the two groups existed. However. their ('onelu ions dif­ fered from tho e of Roger and ;\tann (2,3). In the nationwide Rog I' and Mann (2, ) til ;. tI I' rn Jor