Careers Advisers’ Opinions of the College of Occupational Therapists’ Careers Video

Recruitment to occupational therapy has long been of concern and studies, principally from North America, have identified the factors influencing career choice so that the shortfall of applicants may be addressed. Studies at Brunel University in London have provided United Kingdom data, with the most recent study (Craik and Zaccaria 2003) summarising the views of 444 first-year students. This found that only 7% of students first heard about the profession through a school careers adviser and that the most frequently reported method of discovering the profession was through work in health care (Craik and Zaccaria 2003). In a national survey by the College of Occupational Therapists (COT 2002), 25% of 1117 first-year students cited school careers staff as the most influential source of careers advice, making it the third in importance, with friends and family and the university prospectus being more influential. The pledges of the Department of Health to increase the number of funded education places in the United Kingdom (DH 2000a, 2000b, 2002) may be of limited use if divorced from a sustained campaign to increase the public profile of occupational therapy. A recruitment strategy (Craik and Ross 2003) between Brunel University and the COT, funded by the North East London Workforce Development Confederation, offered the opportunity to obtain the views of careers advisers. The study aimed to establish the level of knowledge of careers advisers about occupational therapy; to investigate whether the COT’s careers video, which centres on the work of community occupational therapists with their clients and on students in an educational setting, was effective in increasing that knowledge; and to elicit the careers advisers’ opinions of the video. Careers Advisers’ Opinions of the College of Occupational Therapists’ Careers Video