Kettering College Occupational Therapy Students Collaborate
December 12, 2024 –The students in Kettering College’s Occupational Therapy doctoral (OTD) program have been taking part in several activities before the semester winds down.
First-year OTD students visited the Spring Valley Academy as a part of their Human Occupation class. Dr. Chioma Lindo teaches that class and says, “The goal was to provide our first-year students with an opportunity to experience the OT process at a group level. Our students designed activities to support fine and gross motor skills. They also developed a story addressing significant emotions and facilitated an “emotions station” to teach strategies for managing these emotions effectively.”
Kettering College OTD first-year students also presented their research posters at the Ollie Davis campus. They collaborated to choose and research a topic that examines a global issue through the lens of occupational therapy and advocacy.
Topics addressed things such as breaking barriers to employment for all abilities; loneliness in the elderly population; and education access and support for people with Autism spectrum disorder. Students Colleen Buchanan and Sydney Khosla (above, left photo, left to right) say they chose their topic of limitations in assistive technology because they felt there is a knowledge gap for the general public on this topic, and they were curious to learn more about it themselves. They say their research helped open their eyes to the reality that even the smallest obstacles can hinder people from enjoying life to the fullest.
OTD students in their second year at Kettering College recently teamed up with Sinclair Community College for an intraprofessional event with their Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) students.
Dr. Shanese Higgins (below, left), Kettering College OTD professor and chair, says, “The event was created to practice the collaborative process that is required for effective evaluation, intervention planning, and treatment implementation when providing occupational therapy services.”
Students from both colleges received a mock case background. They worked together through a 3-hour case conference to discuss the entire case’s treatment plan, including being discharged back to the community.
Dr. Higgins says, “This event helps both groups of students learn how to critically think and clinically reason as well as learn the professional communication required to support the collaborative process needed for effective patient care that leads to positive outcomes.”
Kettering College OTD student Katie Jenkins (above, left) appreciated the event, which fostered collaboration and professionalism between OTs and OTAs. Katie says, “The students we met are so knowledgeable about ideas for treatment and in turn, they complimented our comfort with the theoretical base of the profession that is emphasized at the graduate level. The collaboration in the lab was a wonderful demonstration of how we can provide effective, creative, and client-centered treatment in the field while utilizing the scope of practice of both an OTA and an OT.”
About Kettering College
Kettering College is a fully accredited, faith-based healthcare college in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, offering career-focused medical degrees through traditional and accelerated programs. A division of Kettering Health, Kettering College is located on the Kettering Health Main Campus and is chartered by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.