ABSTRACT

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate attitudes of Korean occupational therapy faculty and students toward introducing an accreditation system for occupational therapy educa-tion programs.Methods : The participants consisted of 26 faculty members and 170 students who were in their 3rd and 4th year of the programs. The questionnaire was developed and reviewed by the Accreditation Board for the Education of Korean Occupational Therapists and was composed of 20 items which included both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The data were analyzed employing descriptive statistics.Results : 88.5% of faculty and 90% of students favored the introduction of the accreditation system for occupational therapy education programs. 84.6% of faculty and 94.7% of students reported that they would apply for the program accreditation and 73.1% of faculty and 77.6% of students responded that they would trust the result and process of the accreditation. On the question of necessity of introducing the standardized curricula, 100% of faculty and 99.4% of students responded that it was necessary. The top 5 areas to be included in the accreditation were the faculty’s major, the contents of curricula, clinical experience of the faculty, variety of courses, and assessment tools in order among faculty and the contents of curricula, clinical experience of the faculty, variety of courses, the faculty’s major, and practice equipment in order among students.Conclusion : The results show that the majority of occupational therapy faculty and students agreed on developing a minimum standard for education programs that could be ensured by the accreditation procedures in order to improve the quality of occupational therapy service in Korea.