ABSTRACT

Object : The purpose of this study were to analyze the awareness and necessity for assistive technology(AT) for occupational therapy students, and to present the basis for establishing an assistive technology curriculum.Methods : The survey was conducted among occupational therapy students. Data were collected from 6 of 43 colleges by random sampling in December 2006.Results : 76.8% of occupational therapy students were aware of AT, but 68.3% of them were dissatisfied with information related to AT. 84.3% of respondents thought AT played an important role in occupational therapy(OT), and 90.7% of them thought it had an effect on rehabilitation and occupational therapy intervention. 72.2% of the participants replied that an AT needs to be incorporated into OT curriculum. The fields of AT related to OT were daily living equipment, cognitive retraining technologies, neuromuscular retraining technologies and physical agent modalities.Conclusion : This study was designed to provide an awareness of how the use of AT can be beneficial to the field of OT, and further research is warranted to establish the relationship between OT and AT.