Generational cohort theory: have we overlooked an important aspect of the entry-level occupational therapy doctorate debate?

Jeffrey L. Crabtree, OTD, OT, FAOTA, is Director, Community Mobility and Participation in Society (COMPASS) Lab and Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis. Many in our profession would agree that the question of whether our profession should move to the entry-level doctoral degree is still a worthy question, one that requires debate and one that needs answering soon, given the educational trends in health care professions. However, those who might attempt to answer this question face a twofold problem: First, those knowledgeable about occupational therapy are likely already occupational therapists or occupational therapy assistants or are members of other professions. Their opinions and perceptions about an entry-level doctorate would likely be based on their own experiences; surveys of their opinions would not yield information about the interest of potential occupational therapists. Second, although a few studies have investigated people’s predisposition toward college (Bers & Galowich 2002; Butner et al., 2001; De La Rosa, 2006; HemsleyBrown, 1999) and a larger body of literature exists on college enrollment and the factors that influence enrollment (see National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, 2007, for a review of the research), we know of no research exploring the interests of potential occupational therapists at any level of education or on the basis of any generational cohort. This is likely because there is no effective way of identifying people to survey whose opinions about the entry-level doctoral degree would be predictive of a larger, potential population of occupational therapists who might fill our educational programs. To our knowledge, only occupational therapists have been surveyed about occupational therapy programs (e.g., Dickerson & Wittman, 1999; Runyon, Aitken, & Stohs, 1994). Lacking any hard evidence of wouldbe practitioners’ interest in gaining an entry-level doctorate in occupational therapy, we examined the population of likely traditional consumers of occupational therapy education using Generational Cohort Theory (GCT) and broad educational trends to attempt to gain insight about the possible interest in occupational therapy. In addition, we identified two of the typical arguments offered against the entrylevel doctorate in occupational therapy and identified what we believe to be convincing counter-arguments that support instituting the entry-level doctoral degree in occupational therapy.