ABSTRACT

Objective : The team specializing in treating dementia patients develops curriculums for training elderly de-mentia occupational therapists, with a view to establish the role of occupational therapists and construct their professionalism.Methods : Between March 2005 and February 2006, the Korean Association for Dementia and the Korean Association of Occupational Therapists collected materials related to treatment activity programs after in-vestigating occupational therapy curriculums and dementia-related documents from regular universities, for the purpose of jointly developing the appropriate educational curriculums. The materials of the results of oc-cupational therapy activities were collected and analyzed for two hours a day each week for the elderly de-mentia patients treated at two university hospitals and five medical centers for aged people.Results : The curriculums comprise eight hours of lessons every other week for one year, that is 100 hours of theories and 100 hours of practices in total. Developed training materials for lectures and practices include evaluations, treatment activity programs, and guidelines for practices.Conclusion : The research has suggested grounds to expand the spheres in the occupational therapy field and, ultimately, participate actively in health and welfare projects to improve the quality of the life of elderly people including dementia patients.