Integrating research competencies into basic professional education.

I t has been almost 6 years since an ad hoc committee completed a charge from the Representative Assembly to identify the research competencies required by the profession of occupational therapv These research competencies were reported in the American/ol/rnal ofOccupational Therapy in 1983 ("The Foundation") ancl have since proVided the f't-amework for a teaching gUide intended for academic and clinicli educators (Mitcham, 1985). If rhese research competencies are to serve rhe profession, their iOlegration into entry level educmion has to be examineu_ Two major roles and functions were identified as appropriate ourcomes for basic professional education. First, encry level practitioners must become consumers of research, and second, rhey must become panicipants in the research process ("The Foundation," 1983) How, then, can professional occuparional therapy students begin their journev to research consumerism and panicipation) The journev begins with the development of a professional idelltity, which must embrace 311(1 value competence in research from the outset If we foUow Rogers' (1983) example and begin to educate "inqUisitive practirioners," then the foundation for research skills needs to be firmly woven inco the academic curriculum instead of being relegated to a course in research methods which mav not be offered until halfway through the program of stud\'.