ABSTRACT

Objective : This paper aims to determine the job characteristics and work orientation of occupational therapists who take CBR at public health centers and centers for dementia in accordance with the regional public health act, and to suggest basic resources for an improvement in the quality of occupational therapists in terms of CBR. Methods : A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to occupational therapists working at public health centers and centers for dementia. The collected data was analyzed to determine the effects on work orientation by carrying out descriptive statistics, a correlation analysis, and a hierarchical regression analysis. Results : The work conducted by occupational therapists on CBR include patient assessments, preventive education, ADL training, and cognitive and perceptual training of the highest order. Difficult OT service types under their current duties include administrative work and local community education. The reasons for their hardships are a shortage of specialized personnel, lack of program planning, and organization and communication problems with other specialists. While their employment security is unstable, the autonomy of their jobs seem to be guaranteed to a certain degree. There are negative correlations between employment type and employment security, between work place and autonomy, and between the number of patient and promotion opportunity. On the other hand, there are positive correlations between monthly wage and autonomy, and between educational level and autonomy. Conclusion : This study demonstrated that it is not only necessary to establish the roles of occupational therapists in CBR, i.e., administrative training beyond occupational therapy for the local community, program planning and organization, and communicating with other specialists, but it is also necessary to establish a law to improve the employment security and autonomy of occupational therapists.