ABSTRACT

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the career selection status in occupational therapy(OT) students in Korea and to analyze their career maturity and career anxiety according to the general situation. Methods: The subjects for this study were collected 2,180 samples from seven 4-year colleges and seven 3-year colleges. A total of 1,590 surveys were analyzed in the final analysis. Results: Most OT students had volunteer experiences at the organizations related to disabilities, and their family members had jobs related to health services. Cases of recommendation for selecting major were a little bit higher than self-selection, and most of them got information about OT through internet. The most of respondents were interested in the pediatric parts and sensory integration intervention. Respondents wanted to get a jot in medical institutions among various choices and 61.1% respondents were answered to want work to the university hospitals. The anxiety level about national examination was 4.29 out of 5 points. Confidence about OT when they entered the University was 4.34, but it decreases to 4.15 at this point. Career anxiety was significantly high when career confidence was high. Also. career maturity and anxiety had significant negative correlation. Conclusion: The results of the present study will contribute to our knowledge regarding ways to provide better academic service as well as career counseling and guidance to OT students.